I 


/* 


: 


RANDOM  RECOLLECTIONS 


BY 

HENKY  B.  STANTON 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS,   FRANKLIN    SQUARE 

1887 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1885,  by 

HENRY  B.  STANTON, 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1886,  by 

HENRY  B.  STANTON, 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Copyright,  1887,  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS. 

All  rig 


Printed  by  Wynkoop,  Hallenb«ek  A  Co. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  TIIIIID  EDITION. 


THOUGH  no  portions  of  the  first  HIK!  second  editions  of 
this  work  were  on  sale,  they  were  soon  exhausted  in  supply 
ing  calls  on  me  for  copies.  The  requests  in  numerous  news 
papers  and  letters  that  I  would  place  the  book  where  it  could 
be  purchased,  amounted  almost  to  a  rebuke  for  my  not  hav 
ing-  done  this.  In  compliance  with  this  desire,  I  have  spent 
a  few  weeks  in  preparing  a  third  edition,  which  will  be  issued 
and  sold  by  a  book-publishing  house.  The  new  matter  in 
this  third  edition  makes  the  volume  about  two  thirds  larger 
than  the  second  edition,  and  about  three  times  as  large  as 
the  first. 

This  production  is  neither  a  history,  a  biography,  nor  an 
autobiography,  but  is  exactly  what  it  professes  to  be,  namely, 
some  "  random  recollections  "  of  the  writer.  It  will  be  well 
to  read  it  from  that  point  of  view.  Such  value  as  this  draft 
on  my  memory  may  possess  is  mainly  due  to  the  fact  that  in 
describing  events  and  men  I  have  usually  told  only  what  I 
personally  knew  of  them  ;  and,  perhaps  better  than  all,  I  have 
tried  to  stop  when  I  was  done. 

H.  B.  S. 

TENAFLY,  K  J.,  September,  1886. 


NOTE  BY  THE  PUBLISHERS. 

HENRY  B.  STANTOX,  the  author,  died  suddenly  on  January  14th, 
1887,  in  New  York.  He  was  busy  correcting  the  proofs  of  this 
book  the  day  before  he  died.  H.  &  B. 


227747 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Author's  Birthplace. — Pachaug,  Connecticut. — Jewett  City. — 
The  Author's  Ancestry. — Thomas  Stanton,  the  Indian  Inter 
preter,  and  William  Brewster,  the  Pilgrim  Father. — Indian 
Tribes  in  New  London  County. — Sachems  Uncas,  Sassacus,  and 
Miantonomoh.— Extermination  of  the  Pequods  in  1687.— Bene 
dict  Arnold. — Massacre  at  Groton  Heights  in  1781. — The  Stan- 
tons  who  Fell  there.— War  of  1812-15.— Commodores  Hardy, 
Decatur,  and  Perry. — Bombardment  of  Stoniugtou. — Perry  De 
scribes  his  Victory  on  Lake  Erie.— "Don't  Give  up  the  Ship." — 
Bitter  Politics  and  Blue-Laws Page  1 

CHAPTER  II. 

Puritan  "Meeting-house"  at  Pachaug.— Freezing  as  a  Means  of 
Grace. — Musical  Instruments  and  Timepieces. — The  Clergy. — 
Doctors  Hart,  Bellamy,  Hopkins,  and  Lorenzo  Dow. — The  Bur- 
roughses. — The  Westminster  Catechism. — Connecticut  Calvin 
ism  vs.  Rhode  Island  Liberalism. — The  Deacon's  Horse-race  on 
Sunday. — Schools,  Teachers,  and  Books. — Nathan  Daboll,  the 
Arithmetician.— George  D.  Prentice,  Poet,  Wrestler,  and  Found 
er  of  the  Louisville  Journal.— Celebration  on  July  4,  1824,  at 
Jewett  City.— Toast  to  Henry  Clay.— La  Fayette  at  Jewett  City 
in  1825 11 

CHAPTER  III. 

Journey  to  Rochester  in  April,  1826. — New  York  City  had  150,OCO 
Souls.  —  Tammany  Hall.  — The  Bucktails.— The  City  Hall.— 
Albany's  Population,  15,000. —The  Old  Capitol.  — Legislative 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Leaders:  Young,  Root,  Frank  Granger,  Golden,  Livingston, 
Silas  Wright,  Tallmadge.  —  Governor  De  Witt,  Clinton,  the 
Magnificent.—  The  Erie  Canal  just  Completed.— Utica,— Syra 
cuse. — Rochester  in  1826. — Anti-Masonic  Excitement.— Tlmrlow 
Weed's  Dingy  Newspaper,  Shabby  Dress,  and  Empty  Pocket. — 
Henry  O'Reilly  Issues  at  Rochester,  in  1826,  the  First  Daily 
Journal  West  of  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Rivers. — Edmund 
Kean,  the  Tragedian,  Performs  in  the  "Iron  Chest"  at  Roches 
ter. — Sam  Patch  Twice  Leaps  the  Genesee  Falls  and  is  Drowned. 
— Gerrit  Smith  and  Fanny  Wright  Speak  at  Rochester.— Samuel 
Wilkeson  Constructs  the  Harbor  at  Buffalo Page  21 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Horatio  Seymour  when  a  Cadet ;  his  Father,  Henry  Seymour. 
—  The  "Immortal  Seventeen"  Senators.  —  Marcy,  Flagg, 
Bouck  in  1826-27.  —  Death  of  De  Witt  Clinton  in  1828;  Mar 
tin  Van  Buren  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler's  Eulogiums  on  Him; 
their  Drift  and  Purpose. — Van  Burcn  at  Rochester  in  1828; 
His  Variegated  Dress. — Roscoe  Conkl ing's  Style. — Presidential 
Struggle  between  Adarns  and  Jackson  in  1828.  — Van  Buren 
Runs  for  Governor  to  Help  Jackson,  and  is  Chosen.  —  Smith 
Thompson  and  Solomon  South  wick  also  Candidates. — Jackson 
Elected  President. — Van  Buren  Appointed  Secretary  of  State. — 
Young  Men's  State  Convention  at  Utica  in  1828;  the  First  ever 
Held  in  the  Union ;  William  H.  Seward  Presides;  his  Unexpected 
and  Embarrassing  Nomination  for  Congress  in  1828;  he  Declines 
to  Run 29 

CHAPTER  V. 

Courts  and  Counsellors  at  Rochester  in  1827-30.—  Daniel  D.  Bar 
nard. — Addison  Gardiner. — Samuel  L.  Selden. — Occasional  Vis 
itors. —  Eiisha  Williams.  —  John  C.  Spencer.  —  Daniel  Cady. — 
Henry  R.  Storrs. — Millard  Fillmore. — William  H.  Seward  and 
others.—  Thurlow  Weed  Chosen  to  the  Assembly  in  1829.— "A 
good  enough  Morgan  till  after  the  Election." — Weed  Founds 
the  Albany  Evening  Journal  in  April,  1830. — The  State  Mends 
William  L.  Marcy's  "Pantaloons."  —  The  Patch  a  Campaign 
Issue  when  he  Ran  for  Governor. — John  W.  Taylor,  of  Sara 
toga,  and  the  Missouri  Compromise. — Marcy  and  Silas  Wright 


CONTENTS.  VI 1 

on  its  Repeal. — The  Wilraot  Proviso. — Marcy  and  Wright  Com 
pared. — The  Rochester  Clergy  in  1830. — Charles  G.  Finney,  the 
Famous  Evangelist. — His  Pulpit  Oratory Page  35 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Author  Goes  to  Lane  Seminary  in  1831.— President  Lyman 
Beechcr  Tried  for  Heresy  at  Cincinnati. — Henry  Ward  Beecher 
Says  his  Falher  is  "Plagued  Good  at  Twisting." — New  and  Old 
School  Theological  Magnates. — "In  Adam's  Fall  we  Sinned 
all."  —  Dr.  Beman's  Parody. — Dr.  Beecher's  Eccentricities. — 
First  Anti-slavery  Speech. — James  G.  Birney,  and  General  Bir- 
ney,  his  Son. — "Boys,  Keep  your  Eye  on  that  Flag." — First 
Mob.— Anti-slavery  Debate  at  Lane  in  1834. — Its  Consequences. 
— Early  Anti-slavery  Career. — The  Author  Addresses  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Legislature  on  Freedom,  in  1837. — The  Epoch  of 
Mobs. — East  Greenwich. — Utica. — Boston.  —  Newport.  —  Provi 
dence. —  Bishop  Clark  of  Rhode  Island. — Methodist  Church 
Burned. — Pennsylvania  Hall  Burned. — Quaker  Meeting-house 
Sacked  in  Portland. — John  Neal,  the  Poet,  Puts  the  Mob  down. 
— Senator  William  Pitt  Fessendcn. — "I  am  that  Person." — Mob 
in  Norwich,  Connecticut. — Mobbed  in  many  States.— Never  in 
Vermont 43 

CHAPTER  VII. 

John  G.  Whittier  and  the  Author  Visit  Gettysburg  for  Anti- 
slavery  Lecturers. — Whittier's  Services  to  Liberty. — Caleb  Gush 
ing  a  Candidate  for  Congress  in  1838.— Whittier  Gets  a  Letter 
that  Averts  Cushing's  Defeat.— Origin  of  the  Republican  Party. 
— Peculiar  Honors  paid  to  John  Quincy  Adams  in  1837. — 
Author  at  Washington  in  1838. — Adams  and  the  Right  of  Peti 
tion. —  Speaker  Polk. — Latimer's  Case. —The  Reel  on  Mr. 
Adams's  Desk.— Vice-President  Dick  Johnson  Compared  with 
Van  Buren  as  a  Presiding  Officer. — The  Lions  in  the  Senate  in 
1838. — Foreshadowing  the  Methods  for  Overthrowing  Slavery. 
—The  Author's  Early  Newspaper  Productions.— Sylvester  Gra 
ham,  the  Dietetic  Reformer;  his  System 56 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Abolitionists  and  the  Constitution. — Anti-slavery  Leaders:  Garri 
son  and  others  iu  Boston;  Tappan  and  others  in  New  York; 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

Smith  and  others  in  Central  New  York;  Lovejoy  and  others  in 
the  Western  States. — Celebrated  AVomen:  Prudence  Crandall; 
Mrs.  Child;  The  Grimkes;  Mrs.  Mott;  Lucy  Stone;  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe;  Elizabeth  Cady  Stan  ton;  Susan  B.  Anthony.— 
Leading  Colored  Men;  Frederick  Douglass;  Robert  Purvis.— 
Eccentricities  of  Abolitionists. — A  Motley  Group  in  Boston. — 
Father  Lampson  and  his  Scythe-snath.— Crazy  George  Wash 
ington  Mellen. — Disturbing  Religious  Meetings.  —  Stephen  S. 
Foster  Imitates  George  Fox.  —  Charles  C.  Burleigh's  Vile  Gar 
ments  Torn  off  and  Carried  away. — Rev.  Dr.  Channing  Eulogizes 
Burleigh's  Oratory.— Controversy  between  Garrison  and  Wendell 
Phillips.— Lord  Timothy  Dexter Page  64 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Tour  in  Europe  in  1840. — Current  Description  of  Author's  Travels. 
— The  Main  Object  of  the  Tour. — World's  Anti-slavery  Con 
vention  in  London. — Leading  Members. — Distinguished  Women. 
— Haydon's  Large  Painting  of  the  Convention;  his  Anecdote 
of  the  Iron  Duke. — House  of  Peers. — Scotch  Church  Debate. — 
Brougham  Speaks. — Melbourne,  the  Premier. — Lord  Lyndhurst, 
a  Boston-born  Boy. — Wellington  Speaks  on  an  Irish  Question. — 
Earl  Grey  Enters.— The  Reform  Bill  of  1832.— Grey's  Warning 
to  the  Peers  to  Set  their  Houses  in  Order. — Sydney  Smith  and 
Dame  Partington. — Gorgeous  Pageant  at  the  Funeral  of  Earl 
Durham,  Son-in-law  of  Grey,  and  the  Persecuted  Ex-Governor 
of  Canada 74 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  House  of  Commons. — Debate  on  Canada. — Macaulay's  Speech. 
— Lord  John  Russell. — The  Lions  of  the  House.  —  O'Connell 
Aims  a  Stinging  Arrow  at  Disraeli,  the  Future  Beaconsfield. — 
Stanley,  the  Inchoate  Earl  Derby,  Collides  with  Howick,  Son  and 
Heir  of  Earl  Grey. — Sir  Robert  Peel  Compared  with  Clay,  Cal- 
houn,  and  Webster.  —  Gladstone,  "The  Rising  Hope  of  the 
Stern  and  Unbending  Tories."  —  Talfourd.  —  Bulwer's  Dandy 
Dress. — Anecdote  of  Brougham  and  Buxton. — Clarkson's  De 
scription  of  Wilberforce's  Oratory.  —  Manners  in  the  English 
Commons  and  the  American  Congress  Compared. — The  English 
man's  H. — Oratory  in  America  and  Great  Britain.— American 
Snobbery. — Joseph  H.  Choate  and  William  E.  Forster  before 


CONTENTS.  IX 

the  Union  League  Club. — Dean  Stanley,  Canon  Farrar,  Sergeant 
Ballantyne,  and  Matthew  Arnold  Facing  American  Audiences. — 
How  they  Appeared Page  82 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Westminster  Hall. — The  Courts-  Lords  Cottenham,  Denman,  and 
Abinger,  Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  and  other  Members  of  the 
Bench  and  Bar — In  France. — Deputy  Isambert  and  Advocate 
Cremieux. — The  Great  Napoleon's  Mausoleum  in  Preparation 
on  the  Banks  of  the  Seine. — Napoleon,  "the  Pretender,"  Seized 
while  Raising  a  Rebellion  at  Boulogne. — Return  to  England. — 
London  in  a  Fog.— William  the  Conqueror  and  Battle  Abbey. — 
Runnymede  and  Magna  Charta. — Bosworth  Field  and  Richard 
III  — Cromwell's  Schoolhouse,  Mansion,  and  Farm. —Judge 
Jeffreys  and  the  Bloody  Assizes. — William  III.  and  the  Battle 
of  the  Boyue. — Old  Sarum,  the  Model  Rotten  Borough. — The 
Chartists  and  their  Creed. — Main  Cause  of  their  Failure 92 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Some  British  Poets. — Thomas  Campbell. — In  the  London  Con 
vention  he  Ridicules  American  Poets.  —  He  is  Answered. — 
Ebenezer  Elliott.— James  Montgomery  —Lord  Byron's  Widow. 
—His  Daughter,  Ada  Augusta  —Thomas  Carlyle.  —  He  Calls 
Victor  Hugo  a  Humbug,  and  Criticises  Emerson. — In  Scotland. 
—Rev.  Doctors  Chalmers  and  Wardlaw  as  Pulpit  Orators. — The 
Manager  of  the  EdinburgJi  Review  Presides  over  an  Anti-Slavery 
Meeting. — Sydney  Smith  Preaches  a  Sermon.  —  Lord  Francis 
Jeffrey  on  Law  Reform,  the  New  York  Revised  Statutes,  and 
Jeremy  Bentham,  the  Codifier  — The  Field  of  Culloden.— 
Charles  Edward  Stuart. — Clarkson's  Opinion  of  the  Four  Stuarts 
and  the  Four  Georges.— In  Ireland. — O'Conuell  on  the  Repeal 
of  the  Union.— John  Randolph  Said  he  was  the  First  Orator  in 
Europe.— Other  Famous  Men  and  Places.— Return  to  America. 
—Admitted  to  the  Boston  Bar - 102 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Law  — Boston  Bench  and  Bar.— Judges  Story,  Sprague,  and 
Shaw. — Jeremiah  Mason.— Daniel  Webster.— Ruf us  Choate. — 
Their  Triumphs  in  the  Criminal  Cases  of  Avery,  the  Knapps, 
and  Tirrell.—  Samuel  Hoar. — He  is  Sent  to  South  Carolina  to 

A* 


X  CONTENTS. 

Test  the  Constitutionality  of  Laws  Imprisoning  Free  Colored 
Seamen. — Expelled  from  the  State  by  Force.— Mr.  Hoar's  Fee 
as  a  Referee.— Choate  before  Juries. — Shaw  on  the  Bench. — 
Choate's  Stimulants,  Hot  Coffee  and  Hot  Water. — Tirrcll's  Two 
Celebrated  Trials  for  Murder  and  Arson. — Parker,  the  Prose 
cuting  Attorney.— Somnambulism  the  Defence.— George  Head's 
Manufactured  Testimony,  and  Rufus  Choate's  Marvellous  Ora 
tory,  Twice  Save  Tin-ell's  Life Page  110 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

The  Law. — Several  Novel  Cases. — Libel  Suit  at  Tauntou. — The 
Vivid  "Dream." — Criminal  Prosecution  for  Libel  at  New  Lon 
don.— John  T.  Wait  and  Lafayette  S.  Foster  for  the  State.— The 
Daniels's  Case  at  Boston.— Charles  G.  Loring  and  Benjamin  R. 
Curtis  Counsel  for  the  Defendant.— Choate  for  Plaintiffs. — A 
Patent  Suit. — Charles  Sumner,  Benjamin  F.  Hallett,  and  Horace 
E.  Smith  Counsel. — Joel  Preiitiss  Bishop,  the  Law-writer.— John 
P.  Hale  as  Lawyer  and  Senator. — Theodore  Parker  under  In 
dictment. —  Hale  his  Counsel. — Parker  on  Fish  and  Phos 
phorus 122 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Law.— Bench  and  Bar  of  the  Empire  State.— Kent,  Spencer, 
and  other  Eminent  Jurists  —Four  Great  Lawyers  of  Columbia 
County.— The  Power  of  Elisha  Williams  over  a  Jury — Henry 
R,  Storrs. — Lawyers  and  Trials  at  Rochester  — Selleck  Bough- 
ton. — Jesse  Hawley,  the  Land  Surveyor,  Foreshadowing  the  Erie 
Canal. — Charles  M.  Lee —General  "Mad"  Anthony  Wayne's 
Storming  of  Stony  Point  Saves  a  Counterfeiter  from  the  State 
Prison.— John  Griffin,  the  Rough  Judge  of  Allegheny  County, 
Sits  down  on  a  Dandy  Attorney  — Alvan  Stewart  — Some 
Albany  Lawyers. — The  Famous  Firm  of  Hill,  Porter,  &  Cag- 
gar.  —  Quirk,  Gammon,  &  Snap  — Eseck  Cowan's  Rare  Law 
Library.— Marcus  T.  Reynolds.— Samuel  Stevens. — Daniel  Cady. 
— Joshua  A  Spencer .  . . 129 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

The  Law.  —  The  Corning  and  Burden  Spike  Case  —  Seward, 
Blatchford,  and  Stevens  Counsel.— Reuben  II  Walworth,  Ref 


CONTENTS.  XI 

<Tce. — Jarndyce  -r«.  Jarndyce.  — Clients  Erect  Federal  Buildings 
at  Buffalo  and  Oswego,  and  Sue  the  Government.  —  Speaker 
Grow,  R.  E.  Fenton,  and  William  Steele  Holmau  Intervene. — 
Captain  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  and  the  Fist  Fight, — His  Son, 
Cornelius  Jeremiah,  is  Sued,  and  Blows  his  Brains  out. — The 
Controversy  over  the  Commodore's  Will. — The  Spencers. — 
John  C.  Spencer. — His  Acute  Legal  Mind. — Interview  with  his 
Son,  who  was  Executed  for  Alleged  Mutiny  on  Board  The 
Somers.  —  Chief -justice  Ambrose  Spencer.  —  John  C.  Spencer 
Concocts  the  Canal  Bill  of  1851 Page  141 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Dr.  Samuel  B.  Woodward  and  Senator  Albert  H.  Tracy. — Close 
Resemblance  to  Washington  and  Jefferson. — Webster  and  the 
Conscience  Whigs  in  Faneuil  Hall  in  1846. — Crittendeu  on 
Clay  and  Webster.  —  Clay  before  the  Supreme  Court.  —  Mrs. 
James  Madison. — John  Sargeant. —  Chief-justice  Taney. — Clay 
in  the  Senate. — A  Galaxy  of  Talents. — "Biddle  and  the  Bank." 
—The  Sub-Treasury  Question.— Clay's  Speech  in  New  York. — 
His  Personal  Magnetism. — His  Funeral  Pageant.— A  Cluster  of 
Political  Rivals.  —  George  P.  Barker.  —  Sanford  E.  Church. — 
Church  in  the  New  York  Assembly  in  1842.— Hoffman,  Dix, 
Seymour,  and  other  Members. — Church  makes  Barker  Attorney  - 
"General. — Anecdote  of  Church  and  James  W.  Nye  at  the  Buf 
falo  Convention  in  1848 148 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Democratic  National  Convention  of  1844. — Van  Buren,  Polk,  and 
Cass. — Polk  Nominated  for  President. — Wright  Nominated  for 
Vice-President. — He  Declines. — First  Use  of  the  Morse  Tele 
graph. — Polk's  Duplicity  in  Forming  his  Cabinet. — Marcy,  Sec 
retary  of  War. — The  Barnburners  Angry.— Death  of  John  Quin- 
cy  Adams. — The  Barnburner  Revolt  of  1847-48. — "The  Assas 
sins  of  Silas  Wright." — List  of  Barnburners  and  Hunkers.— 
Utica  Convention  of  1848. — Young,  Cambreling,  and  Tilden  Pres 
ent. — Cass  and  Taylor  Rival  Candidates  for  President, — Con 
vention  at  Buffalo  in  1848.— B.  F.  Butler's  Speech.  — "D—n  his 
Turnips!" — Van  Buren  Nominated  for  President,  and  Charles 
Francis  Adams  for  Vice-President. — The  Barnburner  Revolt 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

Defeats  Cass  and  Elects  Taylor. — Reunion  of  the  New  York 
Democracy  in  1849. — The  Election  and  its  Results Page  157 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

The  Author  Elected  to  the  New  York  Senate  in  1849. — The  Canal 
Bill.— Twelve  Senators  Resign  to  Defeat  it. — Re-elected  in  1851. 
— The  Bill  Passes. — The  Court  of  Appeals  Pronounce  it  Uncon 
stitutional. — The  Author's  Seat  Contested.— Dinner  at  the  Astor 
House.  —  Speech  of  Seward  and  another.  —  Thurlow  Weed. — 
The  Midnight  Call.— The  Contest  Squelched. — Weed's  Hand  in 
it, — Members  and  Measures  in  the  Senate.  —  Hamilton  Fish 
Elected  United  States  Senator. — James  W.  Beekman  Bolts  Fish. 
—Notices  of  Hoffman,  Loomis,  Seymour,  Dix,  Van  Buren, 
Marcy,  and  Dickinson. — John  Van  Buren  and  the  Apple-woman; 
his  Ill-health ;  the  Water  -  cure  Establishment ;  his  Death  at 
Sea ICG 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Whig  National  Convention  of  1852. — Webster's  Sad  Appearance. 
—General  Scott  Nominated  for  President, — Democratic  National 
Convention  of  1852.  —  Cass,  Buchanan,  Marcy,  Douglas,  and 
Dickinson  Aspirants. — An  Unexpected  Interview  by  the  Vir 
ginians. — New  York  Delegation  in  Private  Conference. — Threats 
to  Throw  Seymour  out  of  the  Window. — Marcy  and  Dickinson 
Slaughter  each  other. — Pierce  Nominated. — Dean  Richmond's 
"Finality." — Pierce's  Cabinet. — Dix  Cheated,  and  Marcy  Called. 
— Pierce  Approves  the  Missouri  Compromise  Repeal. — Rends 
the  Democratic  Party  Asunder.— Republican  Party  Formed  in 
1855-56.— Fremont  Nominated  for  President. — James  G.  Elaine. 
— Notices  of  Horace  Greeley,  Gerrit  Smith,  John  Jacob  Astor, 
John  Brown,  and  Martin  Van  Buren. — Brown  Handles  a  Rifle, 
and  Hits  the  Bull's-eye. — Van  Buren  Predicts  the  Overthrow  of 
Slavery  amid  Convulsions 179 

CHAPTER   XXL 

William  II.  Seward  as  Senator. — Seward  on  Weed. — Seward  Un 
bending. —  Seward  and  Judge  Sackett. — Weed  the  "State 
Fifer." — Seward  and  Conkling. — Coukling  Elected  to  Congress 
in  1858. — Seward  on  Greeley. — John  Sherman,  Candidate  for 
Speaker. — Tom  Corwiii  as  an  Orator. — The  Jewish  Rabbi  Prays. 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

— Henry  Winter  Davis. — Pennington  Chosen  Speaker. — Slidell's 
Bill  to  Purchase  Cuba.— Wade  and  Toombs  in  Close  Contact, — 
"Land  for  the  Landless  versus  Niggers  for  the  Niggerless."- 
Scene  in  the  Senate  in  1859  between  Benjamin  and  Seward. — 
Seward  Smokes  Benjamin's  Cigar. — Scene  in  the  Senate  in  1834 
between  Clay  and  Van  Buren. — Van  Burcn  Takes  a  Pinch  of 
Clay's  Snuff Page  193 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Turbulent  Scenes  in  the  House  in  1859,  1860. — Grow  Knocks 
Keitt  Down. — Crawford  Threatens  Thad.  Stevens. — Tribute  to 
Stevens.  —  Stephen  A.  Douglas;  his  Re-election  to  the  Senate 
over  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1859. — His  Reception  in  the  Senate. — 
Pro-Slavery  Democrats  Assail  him. — Seward  Preparing  for  the 
Chicago  Convention  of  I860. — Deluded  as  to  his  Strength.— The 
Senators  Opposed  to  him. — Corwin  and  Lincoln  Speak  in  New 
England  Early  in  1860. — New-Yorkers  who  Oppose  Seward  at 
Chicago. — Lincoln  Nominated.  —  Scene  at  Auburn  when  the 
Newrs  Came. — Seward  Embittered. — Crushed  Presidential  Aspi 
rations  of  Seward,  Greeley,  Clay,  and  Wrcbster.  —  Ira  Harris 
Chosen  Senator  in  1861. — Defeat  of  Greeley  and  Evarts. — Rufus 
King's  Chair  in  the  Senate. — Its  Distinguished  Occupants. .  207 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Lincoln's  Cabinet. — Chase  Pushed  in. — David  Davis,  Confidential 
Adviser  of  Lincoln.— Mrs.  Lincoln  "Sub-President." — Notices 
of  Seward,  Chase,  Cameron,  Bates,  Blair,  and  Welles. — Bick 
erings  in  the  Cabinet.  —  Chase'  and  Seward  Grapple. — Bray 
Dickinson  and  Marcus  Curtius. — Down  in  Dixie  in  April,  1861. 
—Narrow  Escape  from  Secessionists.— General  Butler  and  his 
Troops.— Colonel  Jones  and  his  Regiment  Going  through  Balti 
more. — First  Blood  of  the  War. — Notice  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
the  War  Secretary 220 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Mr.  Lincoln  and  Dr.  McPheeters. — Lincoln's  Story. — Roscoe 
Conkliug  and  Noah  Davis  Ca«^Ud£tes  for  the  Senate  in  1867.— 
Conkling  Elected.— Defeat  of  Morgan  by  Fenton  for  the  Senate 
in  1869. —  Escape  of  Marshall  O.  Roberts  from  the  Lobby.— 
Democratic  National  Convention  of  1868.  —  Seymour  Favors 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

Chase. — Vallandigliam's  Course. — Seymour  Nominated. — Grant 
Elected. — Seymour  Urged  to  Accept  the  Senatorship  in  1875; 
Refuses;  Why.  —  Se ward's  Trip  around  the  World. — Death  of 
Seward  in  1872.— R.  B.  Hayes  Running  for  Governor  of  Ohio  in 
1875. — Senator  Thurman's  Singular  Prediction.— Conkling  and 
Platt  Resign  from  the  Senate,  and  Lapham  and  Miller  Succeed 
them  in  1881.— Conkling's  Success  at  the  Ear Page  234 

CHAPTER  XXY. 

Samuel  J.  Tilden;  his  Triumph  over  the  Canal  Ring  and  the 
Tweed  Ring;  his  Sudden  Death;  his  Note  to  the  Author  about 
"Random  Recollections." — State  Convention  of  1874,  when  he 
was  Nominated  for  Governor.  —  The  (N.  Y.)  Sun's  Editorial 
Article.— Tilden  Elected.— The  Presidential  Contest  of  1876.— 
Tilden  Dies  of  Heart  Disease. — Ex-Governors  Clinton,  Wright, 
Marcy,  and  Fenton  Fall  by  the  same  Malady  under  Peculiar 
Circumstances. — Notice  of  Robert  L.  Stanton,  D.D. ;  his  Death 
in  Mid-Ocean  in  May,  1885.— The  Presbyterian  General  Assem 
bly's  Tribute  to  his  Memory 244 

CHAPTER  XXYI. 

American  Journalism. — Its  Rank  as  a  Profession. — Earliest  News 
papers. — First  Daily  Paper. — Philadelphia  Advertiser.— Boston 
Centinel. — National  Gazette. — Controversy  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson  over  Freneau. — Early  Dailies  in  New  York  City. — 
Three  Famous  Editors.  —  Bitter  Tone  of  the  Press.  —  List  of 
Distinguished  Contributors. — Duels. — Early  Journalism  in  New 
England. — Rude  Methods  of  Collecting  News  and  Circulating 
Papers. — Post-riders  and  Reporters.— The  Deacon  and  the  Mo 
hawks.— Dailies  in  New  York,  Albany,  and  Rochester  in  182(5. — 
The  Rochester  Advertiser  the  First  Daily  Issued  West  of  the 
Hudson  and  Delaware  Rivers. — Henry  O'Reilly.  —  Cincinnati 
Gazette  and  Charles  Hammond. — Louisville  Journal  and  George 
D.  Prentice. — List  of  Celebrated  Contributors  in  that  Era.— 
Later  Editors.— Charles  A.  Dana.— Henry  J.  Raymond. — John 
G.  Whittier.— George  William  Curtis 252 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

American  Journalism. — Vice-President  Wilson  and  Charles  Francis 
Adams. — James  and  Erastus  Brooks. — The  New  York  Express. — 


OCNTENTSc  XV 

Lev.7 is  Tappan  and  David  Hale. — The  Journal  of  Commerce. — 
Early  Modes  of  Getting  News. — William  Cullcn  Bryant  and 
William  II.  Leggett. — New  York  Evening  Post. — Courage  of  The 
Post.—  President  Van  Burcn. — James  Watson  Webb.— The  Cou 
rier  and  Enquirer. — Famous  Duels  of  Cillcy,  Graves,  Webb,  and 
Marshall. — Gredcy's  Comments. — Benjamin  Day.  —  The  (N.  Y.) 
Sun. — James  Gordon  Bennett. — The  New  York  Herald.  —  "It 
Does  Move."  —  Brave  Editors  and  Journals. — Joseph  Tinker 
Buckingham  and  the  Boston  Courier. — Charles  King  and  the 
New  York  American. — Charles  Hammond  and  the  Cincinnati 
Gazette. — James  G.  Birney. — Gamaliel  II.  Bailey. — Elijah  Par- 
rish  Lovejoy. — Cassius  M.  Clay Page  265 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

American  Journalism. — Religious  Newspapers. — Albany  Journals 
and  Editors:  The  Argus,  Atlas,  and  Evening  Journal;  Croswell, 
Weed,  Cassidy,  Van  Dyck,  Shaw,  Dawson,  Wilkeson. — Names 
of  Thirty  Persons  whose  Obituary  Notices  were  Written  by  the 
Author  in  Various  Journals. — Death  of  Gerrit  Smith  in  Decem 
ber,  1874.  —  Several  State  Conventions.  —  Tweed  Exposes  his 
Persecutors  at  Rochester  in  1871  — Conkling  and  Fenton  Cross 
Swords  at  Syracuse  in  1871. — Tilden  Nominated  for  Governor 
in  1874,  Robinson  in  1870,  Cornell  and  John  Kelly  in  1879.— 
Speech-Making  and  Reporting. — Meeting  at  Providence  in  1856. 
— The  New  York  Times. — Isaac  Hill  and  the  Concord  Patriot. — 
John  M.  Niles  and  the  Hartford  Times.  —  Newspaper  Corre 
spondents  Writing  Speeches  for  Senators  and  Congressmen,  and 
Reports  for  Committees,  and  Messages  for  Governors. — Press 
Club  Receptions  in  1885. — Extract  from  President  Amos  J. 
Cumming's  Speech;  he  is  Elected  to  Congress  in  November, 
1886.— The  Great  Newspaper  District  he  Represents 278 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Conclusion.— Retrospect. — Extract  from  Thomas  Moore's  '-'Oft  in 
the  Stilly  Night," 289 

LNDEX  OF  NAMES 291 


RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Author's  Birthplace. — Pachaug,  Connecticut. — Jewett  City.— 
The  Author's  Ancestry. — Thomas  Stanton,  the  Indian  Inter 
preter,  and  William  Brewster,  the  Pilgrim  Father.  —  Indian 
Tribes  in  New  London  County.— Sachems  Uncas,  Sassacus,  and 
Miantouomoh. — Extermination  of  the  Pequods  in  1637. — Bene 
dict  Arnold. — Massacre  at  Groton  Heights  in  1781. — The  Stan- 
tons  who  Fell  there. — War  of  1812-1815.— Commodores  Hardy, 
Decatur,  and  Perry. — Bombardment  of  Stonington. — Perry  De 
scribes  his  Victory  on  Lake  Erie.  — "  Don't  Give  up  the  Ship." — 
Bitter  Politics  and  Blue-Laws. 

I  WAS  born  on  June  27,  1805,  on  the  margin  of  the 
River  Pachaug,  in  the  part  of  Preston  which,  in  1815, 
became  Griswold,  county  of  ISTew  London,  Connecti 
cut.  I  dwelt  in  the  little  hamlet  of  Pachaug  till  1814, 
when  my  father  removed  to  Jewett  City,  in  the  same 
township,  a  pretty  village,  situated  just  where  the 
Pachaug  empties  its  pellucid  waters  into  the  more 
stately  Quinnebaug,  on  whose  banks  I  lived  till  the 
spring  of  1826.  These  two  beautiful  streams  flow 
along  together  some  five  miles  southwesterly;  till  the 
Shetucket,  which  had  already  captured  the  "Williman- 
tic,  comes  pouring  down  from  the  north,  and  gives 
them  its  own  name,  and  leads  them  a  rippling  dance 
1 


RECOLLECTIONS. 

to  Norwich.  Here  the  Yantic,  having  previously 
taken  in  small  rivulets  in  the  northwest,  tumbles 
heedlessly  over  fantastic  rocks,  and  joins  the  She- 
tucket.  These  five  rivers  and  their  accessories,  after 
working  their  way  towards  the  sea  by  turning  the 
wheels  of  hundreds  of  factories,  form  the  Thames  in 
front  of  Norwich,  and  it  marches  off  with  its  Indian 
tributaries  in  lordly  style.  After  greeting  Fort  Gris- 
wold  and  New  London,  the  Thames  falls  into  Long 
Island  Sound  just  below  the  Pequod  House,  and  is 
seen  no  more. 

My  father  Avas  Joseph  Stanton.  He  was  born  in 
Washington  County,  R.  L,  on  the  shores  of  the  At 
lantic,  whence  he  went  in  his  early  days  to  Preston, 
to  begin  a  mercantile  career.  He  had  a  distinguished 
ancestry.  His  father  was  an  officer  in  the  Revolution 
ary  War,  under  his  eldest  brother,  who  was  a  young 
lieutenant  in  the  army  of  General  Wolfe  that  con 
quered  Canada  from  France  in  1759.  He  was  subse 
quently  a  colonel  in  the  Revolution,  and  a  senator 
and  representative  in  Congress  from  Rhode  Island  for 
many  years.  Another  of  the  ancestral  line  was  an 
officer  in  the  forces  that  wrested  Louisburg  from  the 
French  in  1745,  their  stronghold  in  North  America. 
From  my  father  this  line  is  traced  directly  upward  to 
Thomas  Stanton,  who  was  born  in  England  in  1615, 
and  came  to  New  England  in  1635.  He  was  learned 
for  those  days ;  became  famous  as  a  negotiator  with 
the  Indians,  whose  dialects  he  thoroughly  mastered ; 
was  appointed  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  United 
Colonies  Indian  Interpreter  -  general  for  New  Eng 
land  ;  was  a  judge  of  the  New  London  County  Court, 


THE    AUTHOR  S    ANCESTRY.  0 

and  deputy  for  ten  years  to  the  General  Court.  He 
die:!  in  1677. 

My  mother  was  Susan  Brewster,  born  in  Preston. 
Her  father  was  Simon  Brewster,  who  died  in  Gris- 
wold,  August  16,  1841,  aged  ninety  years,  three 
months,  and  fifteen  days.  He  was  a  wealthy  farmer 
and  a  magistrate.  He  was  one  of  the  defenders  of 
Fort  Griswold  when  it  was  stormed  by  Benedict  Ar 
nold.  The  line  of  the  Brewsters  goes  straight  up 
ward  from  my  mother  to  William  Brewster,  who  was 
born  at  Scrooby,  England,  in  1560 ;  was  educated  at 
Cambridge,  entered  the  diplomatic  service  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  was  imprisoned  at  Boston  a  long  time  for 
non-conformity,  and  came  to  America  by  the  way  of 
Holland,  in  the  Mayflower,  and  landed  on  Plymouth 
Rock,  December  22, 1620.  Here  he  ministered  as  the 
ecclesiastical  head  of  the  Pilgrim  colony  till  his  death, 
on  April  16,  1644,  aged  eighty-four  years.  He  is  a 
prominent  figure  in  the  picture  of  the  embarkation  of 
the  Pilgrims,  which  hangs  in  the  rotunda  of  the  Cap 
itol  at  Washington. 

Thus  my  paternal  line  goes  back  in  this  country 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  my  maternal  line 
two  hundred  and  sixty -five  years,  which,  I  think,  en 
titles  me  to  call  myself  a  native  American. 

My  parents  were  married  at  Pachaug,  on  January 
25,  1803. 

My  father  was  an  enterprising  country  merchant,  a 
shipper  of  goods  to  and  from  the  West  Indies,  and  a 
woollen  manufacturer.  He  was  a  political  leader  of 
the  Jefferson  school,  thoroughly  versed  in  military 
matters,  courtly  in  manners,  and  of  indomitable  cour- 


4  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

age.  He  died  at  New  York,  in  1827.  My  mother 
was  of  the  Puritan  stock,  intelligent,  high-spirited, 
and  pious.  She  died  at  Rochester,  K  Y.,  in  1853. 

In  early  times  three  great  tribes  clustered  in  New 
London  County,  viz.,  the  Pequods,  the  Mohicans,  and 
a  branch  of  the  Narragansetts.  In  my  youth  quite  a 
body  of  Mohicans  dwelt  near  my  home,  while  a  lib 
eral  sprinkling  of  Narragansetts  and  a  bare  trace  of 
Pequods  remained. 

In  1637  the  Pequods  had  a  palisade  fortress  at 
Mystic,  six  miles  from  Pachaug.  Warlike  and  cruel, 
they  had  long  been  the  scourge  of  Connecticut,  and  it 
was  resolved  to  exterminate  them.  Their  sachem  was 
the  bloody  Sassacus.  The  hypocritical  Uncas  was 
the  chief  of  the  Mohicans.  "  Uncas  Rock  "  is  still  a 
famous  landmark,  overlooking  the  Yantic  Falls,  near 
Norwich.  The  chief  of  the  Narragansetts  was  the 
generous  Miantonomoh,  one  of  the  noblest  and  most 
unfortunate  of  his  race.  He  was  the  nephew  of  the 
great  Canonicus,  the  sachem  who  saved  the  Plymouth 
Pilgrims  from  destruction,  and  succored  Roger  Will 
iams  when  he  was  banished  from  Massachusetts. 

In  May,  1637,  Captain  John  Mason,  with  ninety 
white  soldiers,  seventy  Mohicans,  under  the  lead  of 
Uncas,  and  several  hundred  Narragansetts,  command 
ed  by  Miantonomoh,  attacked  the  Pequods  at  dead 
of  night  in  their  stronghold  at  Mystic.  The  battle 
was  desperate.  It  became  a  massacre.  The  assail 
ants  set  fire  to  the  birch-bark  wigwams  within  the 
palisades.  The  swamp  was  soon  a  lake  of  flame,  de 
vouring  men,  squaws,  and  papooses,  while  those  who 
attempted  to  flee  were  shot  gr  pierced  with  arrows. 


MIANTONOMOH. — BENEDICT   ARNOLD.  5 

A  few  escaped,  and  never  rested  foot  till  they  reached 
the  Mohawk  beyond  Albany.  A  handful  received 
quarter  from  the  gentle  Miantonomoh.  It  was  the 
end  of  the  once  powerful  Pequods. 

And  now  for  the  sad  fate  of  Miantonomoh.  In 
104:3  he  was  attacked  by  Uncas.  Their  tribes  had  a 
iierce  struggle  on  Sachem's  Plain,  just  west  of  Nor 
wich.  Miantonomoh  was  defeated.  Heartless  white 
commissioners  delivered  him  into  the  hands  of  Uncas, 
who  took  his  victim  to  the  field  where  the  day  had 
gone  against  him,  and,  near  the  "  Uncas  Rock,"  he 
cut  from  the  shoulder  of  the  unflinching  Miantono 
moh  a  slice  of  flesh,  broiled  it  before  his  eyes,  de 
voured  it,  and  said,  "It  is  the  sweetest  meat  I  ever 
ate."  He  then  despatched  the  fallen  sachem  with  his 
own  tomahawk.  In  1844,  two  hundred  years  after 
this  barbarous  deed,  Connecticut  rendered  tardy  hom 
age  to  the  intrepid  Miantonomoh  by  erecting  a  mon 
ument  to  his  memory  at  the  spot  where  he  met  his 
cruel  death. 

In  the  last  century  a  dirge  was  composed  to  the 
memory  of  Miantonomoh,  and  set  to  a  plaintive  mel 
ody.  In  my  childhood  we  had  a  negro  slave  whose 
voice  was  attuned  to  the  sweetest  cadence.  Many  a 
time  did  she  lull  me  to  slumber  by  singing  this  touch 
ing  lament.  It  sank  deep  into  my  breast,  and  mould 
ed  my  advancing  years.  Before  I  reached  manhood 
I  resolved  that  I  would  become  the  champion  of  the 
oppressed  colored  races  of  my  country.  I  have  kept 
my  vow. 

Benedict  Arnold  was  born  in  Norwich,  in  1740. 
In  my  youth  I  often  passed  the  house  where  he  first 


6  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

saw  the  light,  and  once  ventured  timidly  within.  It 
cowered,  among  gloomy  trees,  away  from  the  street, 
as  if  ashamed  to  face  the  sunshine.  Arnold  having 
failed  to  deliver  West  Point  to  the  British,  they  fit 
ted  out  an  expedition,  under  his  command,  to  Eastern 
Connecticut,  in  the  fall  of  1781.  He  burned  ]STew 
London,  and  expressed  malignant  regrets  that  he  could 
not  lay  his  native  town  in  ashes.  He  attacked  Fort 
Griswold,  on  Grot  on  Heights,  and  massacred  a  large 
portion  of  the  garrison.  Colonel  William  Ledyard, 
the  intrepid  commander,  the  brother  of  the  famous 
traveller,  was  thrust  through  with  his  own  sword 
after  he  had  surrendered.  The  wounded  were  thrown 
into  carts,  which,  by  their  own  weight,  plunged,  with 
their  writhing  freight,  furiously  down  the  rocky  de 
clivity  towards  the  Thames.  A  shapely  monument 
now  crowns  the  Heights.  On  marble  tablets  at  its 
base  are  engraved  the  names  of  the  one  hundred  and 
more  who  were  slain  on  that  bloody  day.  Among 
them  are  four  Stantons,  my  kindred.  My  Grandfa 
ther  Brewster  participated  in  this  deadly  affray,  but 
came  out  uninjured.  I  scarcely  need  add  that  the 
people  of  my  county  were  taught  to  detest  the  cow 
ardly  caitiff  Benedict  Arnold. 

As  New  London  was  rather  a  fighting  county,  I 
will  dispose  of  the  war  of  1812-1815  before  touching 
on  a  few  topics  that  occurred  earlier.  In  1813  Commo 
dore  Stephen  Decatur,  the  lion  of  our  navy,  under 
took  to  go  to  sea  with  his  fleet  through  the  eastern 
end  of  Long  Island  Sound.  Commodore  Hardy,  who 
had  been  the  captain  of  Nelson's  flag-ship  at  Trafal 
gar,  where  the  great  admiral  fell,  chased  Decatur  into 


COMMODORE    HAKDY.  7 

"New  London  with  a  superior  force.  Well  do  I  remem 
ber  the  prodigious  sensation  this  caused  in  the  rural 
towns.  Hardy  blockaded  Decatur's  fleet  more  than 
a  year,  ravaging  the  coast  by  incursions  on  shore  at 
safe  points,  frightening  the  women  with  the  thunder 
of  his  guns,  and  keeping  the  militia  of  the  county  con 
stantly  on  the  alert.  The  division  of  my  father  was 
at  the  front  nearly  half  the  time.  As  became  a  stanch 
Madisonian,  he  was  busy  drilling  the  militia  for  home 
service  and  in  raising  volunteers  to  go  to  Canada, 
and  in  composing  songs  adapted  to  the  exigency. 
I  recall  scores  of  these  doggerel  verses.  One  gory 
ballad  rang  out : 

"Brave  boys,  don't  be  afraid  or  skittish, 
But  go  and  learn  to  fight  the  British." 

The  aforesaid  "boys"  were  told  not  to  dread  the 
Red  Coats,  for— 

"If  you'll  boil  a  lobster  in  a  stew, 
He'll  look  as  red  and  gay  as  they  do." 

On  a  sunny  day  in  September,  1 814, 1  went  to  Mrs. 
Ephraim  Tucker's,  a  couple  of  miles  from  home,  to 
play.  Her  husband,  a  lieutenant  in  my  father's  di 
vision,  was  at  the  seaside.  Soon  Ave  heard  the  boom 
of  Hardy's  guns  floating  up  from  Stonington  Point. 
Mrs.  Tucker  and  I  were  seated  on  the  doorsteps.  An 
infant  lay  in  her  lap.  Boom !  boom !  boom !  went  the 
cannon  for  hours.  Tears  stole  down  her  ashen  cheeks, 
and  she  shook  like  an  aspen-leaf.  I  was  nine  years 
old.  In  my  boyish  way  I  tried  to  comfort  her  by 
telling  her  that  my  father  would  see  to  it  that  Mr. 
Tucker  was  not  hurt.  The  attack  at  Stonington  was 
a  fiasco.  Hardy's  firing  was  wild. 


8  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

In  the  Fremont  campaign  of  1856  I  went  to  Nor 
wich  to  address  a  mass-meeting.  It  occurred  to  me 
to  run  out  to  Pachaug,  which  I  had  not  visited  for  a 
long  period.  I  seated  myself  on  the  doorsteps  of  the 
Tucker  house,  now  occupied  by  strangers.  My  eye 
rested  on  the  cemetery  which  crowned  the  neighbor 
ing  hill,  where  lay  in  dread  repose  the  generation  I 
had  known  in  my  youth.  I  mused  deeply  on  events 
that  had  transpired  in  the  forty-two  years  that  had 
passed  since  I  sat  there  before.  Such  thoughts  and 
scenes  rarely  come  to  us  except  in  the  visions  of  the 
night. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  I  visited  relatives  of  the 
name  of  Hazard,  at  Westerly,  R.  I.,  near  the  old  Stan- 
ton  homestead.  Commodore  Oliver  Hazard  Perry, 
my  father's  cousin,  was  born  in  that  county.  One  day 
the  hero  of  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie  suddenly  dropped 
in  at  the  Hazards'.  His  visit  elicited  a  burst  of  enthu 
siasm.  His  dashing  manners  and  brilliant  uniform 
filled  me  with  visions  of  naval  glory,  and  I  wanted 
him  to  take  me  to  sea.  He  bore  a  striking  resem 
blance  to  the  portraits  and  statues  of  him  which  I 
saw  in  riper  years. 

I  longed  to  see  the  ocean,  and  hear  the  beating  of 
its  great  heart.  My  father,  in  company  with  the 
commodore,  took  me  to  Watch  Hill,  near  the  mouth 
of  Pawkatuc  Biyer.  "We  arrived  late  in  the  evening. 
The  sky  was  clear,  the  wind  was  brisk,  the  full  moon 
was  playing  on  the  waves.  I  did  not  sleep  a  wink. 
All  night  I  sat  at  the  window  and  gazed  at  the  white- 
caps  of  the  billows,  or  lay  on  the  bed  listening  to  the 
roar  of  the  breakers. 


BITTER    POLITICS.  9 

"Time  writes  no  wrinkles  on  thine  azure  brow; 
Such  as  creation's  dawn  beheld  thou  rollest  now." 

Perry  described  to  us  the  victory  on  Lake  Erie; 
how  Lawrence's  dying  words,  "Don't  give  up  the 
ship  S"  streamed  from  the  fore,  and  how  he  went  in  an 
open  boat  from  one  of  his  disabled  ships  to  another, 
the  cannon-balls  of  the  enemy  whizzing  around  him, 
and  there  hoisted  again  the  Lawrence  motto,  which 
waved  defiantly  till  the  English  surrendered. 

The  politics  of  this  epoch  was  extremely  bitter.  I 
have  witnessed  three  such  eras — the  Madisonian,  in 
Connecticut ;  the  Anti  -  masonic,  in  Western  New 
York;  and  the  persecution  of  the  Abolitionists  ev 
erywhere;  and  I  hardly  know  which  was  the  most 
acrimonious.  Leaving  the  two  latter  to  take  their 
turn,  I  will  say  a  few  words  about  the  first. 

In  Madisonian  days  schoolboys  pulled  hair  and 
grown  men  drew  swords.  I  took  a  hand  in  the  first- 
mentioned  pastime,  understanding  just  about  as  much 
of  the  merits  of  the  encounter  as  the  mass  of  voters 
do  nowadays  in  Presidential  contests.  As  to  deadly 
weapons,  I  saw  my  father,  in  1812  or  1813,  drive  out 
of  his  grounds  at  Pachaug,  sword  in  hand,  a  whole 
company  of  Federalist  militia,  who  had  come  there  to 
insult  him.  The  lawsuit  which  followed  cost  him  a 
round  sum.  Smaller  fights  were  often  ludicrous.  The 
standing  menace  of  one  old  Federalist,  when  heavily 
loaded  with  cider-brandy,  was,  "  I  will  not  say  that 
every  Democrat  is  a  horse-thief,  but  I  do  say  that  ev 
ery  horse-thief  is  a  Democrat."  A  sturdy  Democrat, 
who  had  smelt  powder  at  the  seaside,  taught  me  to 
stand  on  a  chair  and  say,  "  The  Hartford  Convention 


10  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

was  hatched  in  the  purlieus  of  hell !"  What  purlieus 
meant,  and  what  the  Hartford  Convention  was,  I  did 
not  know,  and  I  presume  my  admiring  auditors  were 
in  the  same  predicament.  After  much  delay  a  new 
Democratic  journal  came  to  town.  Its  motto  was 
from  Shakespeare's  Henry  VIIL,  "  Be  just,  and  fear 
not."  Shakespeare's  name  was  appended.  A  warm 
Madisonian  wiped  his  spectacles.  His  eyes  fell  on 
the  motto.  He  read  it  through  without  a  pause,  "  Be 
just  and  fear  not  Shakespeare.''  Lifting  his  list,  he 
exclaimed,  "  I'll  let  'em  know  I  don't  fear  Shake 
speare  or  any  other  Federalist."  All  through  Con 
necticut,  in  those  turbulent  years,  inflamed  partisans 
rent  families,  churches,  and  neighborhoods  asunder. 
Vituperation  furnished  the  staple  of  political  discus 
sion. 

The  Congregationalists,  or  "  the  Standing  Order," 
as  they  were  called,  had  long  been  -the  established 
Church  of  Connecticut.  In  1818  portions  of  the  Fed 
eralists  of  other  denominations  united  with  the  Demo 
crats,  and  defeated  the  Federal  party.  The  last  trace 
of  the  Blue  Law  dynasty  soon  disappeared.  It  was 
one  of  the  bitterest  political  conflicts  I  ever  saw.  An 
amendment  of  the  constitution  finally  placed  all  sects 
on  a  basis  of  political  equality. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Puritan  "Meeting-house  "  at  Pachaug. — Freezing  as  a  Means  of 
Grace. — Musical  Instruments  and  Timepieces. — The  Clergy. — 
Doctors  Hart,  Bellamy,  Hopkins,  and  Lorenzo  Dow. — The  Bur- 
roughses.— The  Westminster  Catechism. — Connecticut  Calvin 
ism  vs.  Rhode  Island  Liberalism. — The  Deacon's  Horse-race  on 
Sunday. — Schools,  Teachers,  and  Books. — Nathan  Daboll,  the 
Arithmetician.— George  D.  Prentice,  Poet,  Wrestler,  and  Found 
er  of  the  Louisville  Journal.—  Celebration  on  July  4,  1824,  at 
Jewett  City.— Toast  to  Henry  Clay.— La  Fayette  at  Jewett  City 
in  1825. 

OUR  Congregational  house  of  worship  stood  on  a 
lawn,  surrounded  by  oaks,  on  the  banks  of  the  Pa 
chaug.  It  was  constructed  of  wood,  according  to  the 
severest  order  of  Puritan  architecture — large,  square, 
with  two  stories  of  glaring  windows  on  four  sides, 
the  pulpit  a  perch,  the  galleries  ample,  the  pews  box 
es,  except  the  negro-pew,  which  was  a  pen  near  the 
ceiling.  Opposite  the  front  entrance  was  the  whip 
ping-post,  near  by  were  the  stocks,  while  on  a  distant 
hill  grinned  the  skeleton  of  a  gallows.  In  my  child 
hood  I  saw  a  wretch  scourged  at  the  post,  a  drunkard 
writhing  in  the  stocks,  and  a  negro  executed  on  the 
gallows.  These  exhibitions  have  sufficed  me  for  a 
lifetime. 

For  many  years  we  had  no  fires  in  the  church  in 
the  winter,  and  we  worshipped  God  and  shivered 
over  the  Westminster  Catechism  till  the  congregation 


12  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

came  to  the  conclusion  that  freezing  was  not  a  means 
of  grace,  and  two  huge  stoves  were  brought  in.  We 
had  fine  singing,  but  no  musical  instrument  except 
the  chorister's  pitchpipe.  Ere  I  left  Griswold  I  saw 
the  gallery  desecrated  by  a  bass-viol.  "We  had  no 
clock  wherewith  to  time  the  sermon,  though  the  min 
ister  had  an  hour-glass  in  the  pulpit.  One  of  the 
early  clergymen  of  Pachaug  used  to  pray  fifty  or 
sixty  minutes  by  the  glass,  the  audience  all  standing. 
]S"ow  I  am  on  timepieces,  I  will  add  that  I  doubt  if, 
when  I  was  born,  there  were  five  gold  watches  in  the 
county.  How  changed !  In  this  progressive  age  ev 
ery  boy  claims  one  as  soon  as  he  has  learned  to  swear. 
Silver  Swiss  watches  were  common  ;  the  poor  resorted 
to  sun-dials,  and  the  affluent  had  eight -day  brass 
clocks  in  their  parlors,  counting  the  passing  hours 
with  owl-like  gravity.  The  pitchpipe  reminds  me 
that  I  recollect  seeing  only  two  pianos  in  my  county, 
though  harps  and  harpsichords  were  not  infrequent, 
and  there  was  a  surfeit  of  drums,  fifes,  fiddles,  bugles, 
and  trumpets,  as  befitted  a  martial  people. 

There  was  rare  stability  in  the  ecclesiastical  affairs 
of  Pachaug.  Three  Congregational  ministers  were 
settled  there  in  unbroken  succession  from  1720  to 
1830,  viz.,  Hezekiah  Lord,  Levi  Hart,  and  Horatio 
Waldo.  Dr.  Hart  was  the  son-in-law  of  the  famous 
Dr.  Joseph  Bellamy,  the  rival  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 
and  he  was  the  friend  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Samuel 
Hopkins,  the  founder  of  the  Hopkinsian  sect.  Drs. 
Bellamy  and  Hopkins  often  preached  in  Pachaug. 
Dr.  Hart  died  in  October,  1808,  an  event  I  remember 
as1  distinctly  as  if  it  had  happened  yesterday.  His 


WHITEFIELD. DOW. BURROUGHS.  13 

venerable  form,  arrayed  in  the  clerical  dress  of  the 
Revolution,  rises  before  me  as  I  write  this  line.  This 
fact  is  perhaps  worthy  of  notice  as  showing  that  octo 
genarians  may  recall  things  that  occurred  when  they 
were  three  years  old. 

A  few  words  about  other  clerical  celebrities.  The 
echo  of  Whiteiield's  fame  lingered  among  my  native 
hills.  My  grandmother  told  me  of  the  mellow  ac 
cents  of  his  voice,  now  soft  as  a  flute,  anon  swell 
ing  like  a  bugle ;  of  his  dramatic  gestures  and  thrill 
ing  appeals,  which  swayed  great  audiences  as  if  swept 
by  the  wings  of  the  tempest,  and  how  he  rode  at  full 
gallop  from  town  to  town  to  meet  engagements,  the 
skirts  of  his  silk  gown  streaming  behind  on  the  wind. 
I  have  bent  reverently  over  the  sepulchre  of  the  peer 
less  preacher  in  Newburyport.  The  Baptists  were 
occasionally  represented  in  our  town  by  their  two 
great  lights,  the  Rev.  Silas  and  Roswell  Burroughs, 
of  Stonington,  kinsmen  of  the  families  of  that  name 
who  were  subsequently  conspicuous  in  the  politics  of 
Western  Xew  York.  The  strangest  and  widest  known 
of  all  was  Lorenzo  Dow,  a  Methodist,  who  had  trav 
elled  the  world  over,  and  lived  near  Griswold,  where 
he  often  preached  and  drew  crowds.  He  looked  like 
Joe  Jefferson,  in  "  Rip  Yan  "Winkle."  His  sermons 
were  sharply  anti-Calvinistic,  and  his  illustrations  the 
quaintest  imaginable,  while  his  manners  overstepped 
all  ordinary  bounds.  When  discoursing  he  bestrode 
the  pulpit,  sat  on  the  stairs,  or  walked  through  the 
aisles.  One  characteristic  anecdote  must  suffice.  It 
was  in  the  height  of  the  summer  solstice.  An  aged 
matron  occupied  a  conspicuous  seat.  She  wore  a  tall 


14  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

cap  with  a  wide  border,  which  rose  and  fell  under  the 
impulse  of  a  broad  fan  in  a  style  so  odd  that  the  boys 
kept  tittering.  Mr.  Dow  endured  it  for  a  while,  and 
then,  pausing  in  his  sermon  and  pointing  his  finger  at 
the  venerable  lady,  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  God,  send  an  ar 
row  of  conviction  from  heaven  straight  through  that 
old  woman's  cap  into  her  heart !"  The  fan  was  fold 
ed,  the  boys  subsided,  and  the  discourse  went  on. 

My  native  town  was  only  one  remove  from  Rhode 
Island.  We  boasted  of  our  supposed  superiority  in 
knowledge  and  virtue  over  the  neighboring  common 
wealth.  If  we  saw  a  tramp,  or  a  rickety  wagon 
drawn  by  a  spavined  horse,  passing  through  Gris- 
wold,  we  spoke  of  them  as  from  what  we  sneeringly 
called  "t'other  state,"  where  the  people  were  Bap 
tists  and  Methodists,  and  took  walks  on  Sunday  in 
stead  of  whipping  their  cider-barrels  for  working  on 
that  day.  Our  few  inhabitants  who  dared  to  use  a 
stronger  term  than  "  darnation  "  would  talk  of  "  ban 
ishing  a  bad  man  off  the  face  of  the  earth  into  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island."  We  were  taught  to  look 
with  shivering  dread  at  the  boys  whose  parents  came 
from  that  state  to  work  in  our  factories,  because  of 
their  ignorance  of  the  "Westminster  Catechism.  One 
of  them  was  lured  into  the  Pachaug  school.  The, 
master  was  examining  the  pupils  in  the  Catechism. 
Following  the  text,  he  asked  the  heathen  from  "  t'oth 
er  state  "  if  there  were  more  gods  than  one.  The  bar 
barian  petrified  us  with  the  flippant  answer,  "  I  don't 
know  how  many  you've  got  up  here  in  Connecticut ; 
we  ha'int  got  none  down  in  Rhode  Island." 

The  liberals  of  the  land  of  Roger  Williams  would 


15 

sometimes  play  pranks  on  the  Puritans  along  the  Pa- 
chaug  and  Quinnebaug  rivers.  Our  Sabbatarian  laws 
were  extremely  strict.  The  deacons,  tithing-men, 
and  other  officials  in  Church  and  State,  could  arrest 
any  person  found  riding  on  Sunday,  unless  he  were 
going  to  "  meeting  "  or  for  a  physician.  A  dashing 
Rhode-Islander,  who  owned  a  spirited  gelding,  had  a 
manufacturing  job  in  Jewett  City.  The  road  to  his 
Rhode  Island  home  ran  past  the  Pachaug  church. 
One  Sunday  he  started  from  Jewett  City  for  his  pa 
ternal  abode  on  his  gay  horse.  Ere  he  reached  Pa 
chaug  one  of  the  deacons  mounted  his  mare  and  pur 
sued  him,  crying,  "  Stop !  stop !"  They  came  tearing 
at  full  gallop  in  among  the  oak-trees  which  surround 
ed  the  church  just  as  the  congregation  was  gathering 
on  the  broad  green  sward.  The  deacon  chased  the 
Rhode-Islander  round  and  round  the  venerable  edi 
fice,  each  lashing  his  steed  with  a  rawhide,  the  deacon 
shouting,  "  Stop  your  horse !  you  are  breaking  the 
Sabbath!"  the  Rhode  -  Islander  responding,  "I  have 
told  you  a  dozen  times  that  I  will  not  trade  horses 
with  you  on  a  Sunday,  and  you  ought  to  be  ashamed 
to  keep  on  violating  the  Sabbath  by  proposing  it." 
The  crowd  on  the  green  viewed  the  spectacle  with 
amazement.  The  deacon's  mare  was  all  of  a  foam, 
and  he  abandoned  the  pursuit.  He  was  fond  of  horses, 
and  something  of  a  jockey,  and  many  of  the  congre 
gation  long  believed  that  on  that  Sunday  he  was  urg 
ing  a  horse-trade  with  the  Rhode-Islander. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  oaks  that  surrounded  the  Pa 
chaug  church.  I  was  aware  that  the  large  things  of 
youth  look  small  in  riper  years.  I  had  seen  many 


16  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

large  oaks  in  this  country  and  Europe,  when,  in  1868, 
being  near  Pachaug,  I  thought  I  would  run  over  and 
measure  those  oaks,  which  I  had  not  seen  in  a  long 
while,  but  had  never  been  able  to  get  wholly  out  of 
my  head.  Alas !  the  biggest  had  sunk  under  the 
weight  of  age,  and  the  next  biggest  had  succumbed 
to  an  autumn  gale.  I  measured  the  two  largest  that 
remained.  The  trunk  of  the  smallest  of  these  aver 
aged  sixteen  feet  in  circumference,  and  from  tip  to 
tip  of  its  longest  limbs  it  measured  through  the  body 
one  hundred  and  ten  feet.  The  trunk  of  the  largest 
averaged  eighteen  and  a  half  feet  in  circumference, 
and  from  tip  to  tip  of  its  longest  limbs  it  measured 
through  the  body  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet. 
These  were  not  "  the  babes  of  the  woods."  Nobody 
knew  anything  of  the  age  of  these  patriarchs. 

Well  do  I  remember  the  little  red  schoolhouse  in 
which  I  learned  the  A  B  C's.  The  sun  glared  upon  it 
in  summer,  and  the  snow  blockaded  it  in  winter.  The 
great  fireplace  blazed  with  hickory  logs  from  November 
to  April.  Consequently,  the  youngsters  who  sat  on  the 
low",  hard  benches  near  the  hearth  w^ere  roasted,  while 
the  big  boys  and  girls,  who  occupied  the  back  bench 
es,  near  the  rattling  windows,  shivered  with  cold. 
Our  ordinary  text-books  were  "Webster's  Spelling- 
book,"  "  Daboll's  Arithmetic,"  "  Murray's  Grammar," 
"Morse's  Geography,"  "Flint's  Surveying,"  "Tyt- 
ler's  History,"  "  Belknap's  Biographies,"  the  "  Amer- 
can  Preceptor,"  and  the  never-to-be-forgotten  "  West 
minster  Catechism."  We  had  no  maps,  atlases,  black 
boards,  or  any  of  the  modern  aids  and  appliances  for 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge.  We  lost  less  by  this 


NATHAN  DABOLL. GEOKGE  D.  PKENTICE.       IT 

than  many  imagine.  Learning  is  like  gold.  ThosG 
who  get  it  the  hardest  generally  keep  it,  while  from 
those  to  whom  it  comes  without  the  asking  it  is  lia 
ble  to  slip  away.  The  most  of  what  I  obtained  in  the 
red  schoolhouse  at  Pachaug  and  the  rickety  building 
at  Jewett  City  in  youthful  days  stays  with  me  yet. 
Aside  from  school-books,  Bibles,  psalm-books,  and  the 
professional  books  of  the  clergy,  the  physicians,  and 
our  one  lawyer,  I  presume  all  the  volumes  in  this 
rather  wealthy  town  did  not  exceed  one  hundred  and 
fifty.  I  went  through  the  whole  of  them  more  than 
once. 

Kathan  Daboll,  the  arithmetician,  was  a  native  of 
our  county.  Of  course,  we  thought  he  was  the  great 
est  mathematician  in  the  world.  One  day  we  heard  he 
was  about  to  pass  the  red  schoolhouse.  We  were  mar 
shalled  out  to  greet  him,  the  pupils  all  in  a  row,  and 
the  master  at  the  head  of  the  line.  Mr.  Daboll  ap 
proached  on  a  venerable  gray  horse,  his  white  beard 
touching  the  pommel  of  the  saddle.  We  gave  him  a 
low  bow  ;  he  lifted  his  aged  hat,  smiled  benignly,  and 
rode  on.  He  had  taught  school  in  Griswold. 

One  of  my  teachers  was  George  D.  Prentice,  the 
poet,  who  was  born  within  a  stone's -throw  of  me. 
He  is  better  known  as  the  witty  editor  of  the  Louis- 
mile  Journal,  now  the  Courier- Journal,  managed  by 
Henry  Watterson.  Many  were  the  literary  favors  I 
received  from  Prentice.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Brown, 
an  admirable  instructor,  a  ripe  scholar,  had  a  wonder 
ful  memory,  and  was  a  skilful  wrestler  I  have  seen 
him,  on  a  wager,  read  two  large  pages  in  a  strange 
book  twice  through,  and  then  repeat  them  without  a 


18  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

miss.  The  champion  wrestler  of  the  county  met 
Prentice  casually  in  the  bar-room  of  the  Jewett  City 
hotel.  The  champion  was  a  stalwart  fellow,  tall,  ath 
letic,  and  weighed  fifty  per  cent,  more  than  Prentice. 
The  floor  was  hard,  and  the  ceiling  was  high.  They 
clinched.  The  struggle  was  desperate.  The  cham 
pion  went  under  rather  lightly.  He  insisted  upon 
another  hold.  No  sooner  were  they  ready  than  Pren 
tice  threw  the  champion  clear  over  his  shoulders, 
bringing  him  to  the  floor  with  a  thud  that  made  the 
house  jar,  and  beating  all  the  breath  out  of  his  body. 

Prentice  studied  law  at  Griswold.  He  wore  a  pis 
tol,  but  had  no  use  for  it  there.  When  he  went  to 
Louisville,  and  took  up  the  editorial  pen,  the  pistol 
came  into  play. 

When  I  dwelt  at  Cincinnati,  in  1832-1835,  the  great 
daily  of  the  Southwest  Avas  the  Journal,  founded  in 
1830,  by  Prentice,  and  conducted  by  him  till  his  death, 
in  1870.  It  was  the  leading  Whig  organ  in  the  West 
ern  States  during  the  existence  of  that  party.  As 
an  editor  he  was  full  of  wit  and  fire,  and  his  para 
graphs  exploded  like  nitre-glycerine,  he  fighting  out 
his  quarrels  with  pen  or  pistol,  as  the  case  required. 
Long  ago  I  wrote  a  little  for  Prentice's  Journal. 
The  last  time  I  saw  Prentice  was  in  1859,  at  New 
York,  where  he  had  come  to  publish  a  volume  of  his 
witty  sayings.  I  noticed  his  arrival  at  the  Astor. 
Though  we  had  not  met  for  a  third  of  a  century,  he 
instantly  recognized  me  when  I  called  him  by  name. 
Years  only  added  to  the  zest  with  which  we  talked  of 
the  events  of  youth. 

In  passing  through  Jewett  City,  the  industrious 


HENRY    CLAY. LA    FAYETTE.  19 

Pachaug  River  propelled  the  wheels  of  a  dozen  mills. 
Among  them  was  a  woollen  factory,  erected,  at  the 
opening  of  the  century,  by  a  Mr.  Schofield,  an  Eng 
lishman,  who  brought  his  machinery  from  beyond  the 
Atlantic.  It  was  said  that  threats  were  made  to  kill 
him,  in  order  to  crush  this  then  scarcely-born  species 
of  industry.  England  has  since  learned  to  accomplish 
the  same  end  by  prostrating  the  protective  tariffs  of 
her  rivals.  My  father  was,  ultimately,  the  partner  of 
Schofield.  At  the  same  time  he  manufactured  ma 
chinery  and  owned  three  country  stores.  The  years 
I  spent  in  these  stores  and  factories  gave  me  a  close 
acquaintance  with  merchandise  and  machinery.  The 
latter  served  me  an  excellent  purpose  in  later  times, 
when  I  became  a  patent-lawyer,  and  tried  patent-suits 
in  the  courts. 

We  always  celebrated  the  Fourth  of  July  in  Jewett 
City.  We  had  our  dinner,  read  the  Declaration  of  In- 
pendence,  drank  our  lemon-punch,  gave  the  thirteen 
regular  toasts,  and  then  called  for  volunteers ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  full-grown  men  did  this.  I  was  brought 
up  to  admire  Henry  Clay.  In  1824  Clay,  Crawford, 
Adams,  and  Jackson  were  running  for  the  presidency. 
The  Fourth  of  July  brought  its  celebration.  Captain 
Charles  Fanning,  my  great -uncle,  who  had  fought 
through  the  Revolution,  was  to  preside  at  the  dinner. 
Clad  in  the  garb  of  the  previous  century,  and  crowned 
with  a  flowing  wig,  Captain  Fanning  sat  at  the  head 
of  the  table,  gave  the  regular  toasts,  and  asked  for 
volunteers.  I  sprang  to  my  feet,  delivered  a  speech 
about  an  inch  long,  and  gave,  "  Henry  Clay  :  the  elo 
quent  champion  of  domestic  manufactures  and  internal 


20  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

improvements."  My  prim  old  uncle  stared  at  me 
with  amazement.  The  Clay  men  clinked  their  glass 
es,  pounded  the  table,  and  I  sat  down  covered  with  con 
fusion  and  applause.  This  was  the  first  of  the  six 
teen  Presidential  campaigns  in  which  I  have  delivered 
speeches ;  sometimes  not  a  few. 

In  1825  General  La  Fayette,  in  his  last  visit  to  this 
country,  passed  through  Jewett  City  on  his  way  from 
New  York  to  Boston.  We  had  short  notice  of  his 
coming.  The  whole  village  turned  out  to  greet  him. 
Captain  Fanning,  who  had  fought  under  him  at  Mon- 
mouth,  and  had  taken  a  hasty  breakfast  with  him 
just  as  the  battle  Avas  commencing,  did  the  honors  of 
the  present  occasion.  La  Fayette  and  Fanning  had 
not  met  in  nearly  forty-five  years,  and  the  latter  was 
wondering  if  the  marquis  would  recognize  him.  The 
coach  drove  up.  It  was  late  in  the  evening.  The 
marquis  alighted,  with  his  son  and  other  companions, 
and  entered  the  hotel.  Captain  Fanning  stood  in  the 
parlor  without  moving.  La  Fayette  gazed  intently  at 
him  for  a  moment,  then  walked  straight  up  to  him, 
and,  throwing  his  arms  around  him,  French  fashion, 
exclaimed,  "  Captain  Fanning !  God  bless  you,  my  old 
comrade  I" 


CHAPTER  III. 

Journey  to  Rochester  in  April,  1826.— New  York  City  had  150,000 
Souls.  —  Tammany  Hall.— The  Bucktails.— The  City  Hall.— 
Albany's  Population,  15,000. —The  Old  Capitol.  — Legislative 
Leaders:  Young,  Root,  Frank  Granger,  Coldcn,  Livingston, 
Silas  Wright,  Tallmadgc.  —  Governor  De  Witt.  Clinton,  the 
Magnificent.— The  Erie  Canal  just  Completed.— Utica.— Syra 
cuse. — Rochester  in  1826.— Anti-Masonic  Excitement. — Thurlow 
Weed's  Dingy  Newspaper,  Shabby  Dress,  and  Empty  Pocket. — 
Henry  O'Reilly  Issues  at  Rochester,  in  1826,  the  First  Daily 
Journal  West  of  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Rivers. — Edmund 
Keau,  the  Tragedian,  Performs  in  the  "Iron  Chest"  at  Roches 
ter.— Sam  Patch  Twice  Leaps  the  Gcnesee  Falls  and  is  Drowned. 
— Gerrit  Smith  and  Fanny  Wright  Speak  at  Rochester.— Samuel 
Wilkeson  Constructs  the  Harbor  at  Buffalo. 

EARLY  in  April,  182G,  I  started  for  the  "  Far  West," 
even  to  the  Genesee  country,  which  seemed  then  far 
ther  off  than  Alaska  does  now.  My  route  was  by 
Long  Island  Sound,  the  Hudson  River,  and  Erie  Canal, 
which  had  been  completed  the  October  previous.  I 
arrived  at  ~New  York  in  the  morning.  It  then  con 
tained  a  population  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou 
sand.  I  rushed  into  Broadway.  All  the  world  seemed 
to  be  there.  I  stared  at  the  tall  houses,  and  everybody 
I  didn't  run  into  ran  into  me.  I  was  specially  attract 
ed  by  the  omnibuses,  as  I  have  seen  to  be  the  case 
with  other  immigrants  in  later  years.  They  were 
bound  for  such  far-off  villages  as  Greenwich  and  Chel 
sea,  which,  I  subsequently  learned,  were  located,  one 


22  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

near  the  foot  of  Tenth  Street,  and  the  other  at  Eigh 
teenth  Street,  on  the  west  side.  My  father  had  taken 
Major  Mordecai  M.  Noah's  newspaper,  and  I  knew 
about  Tammany  Hall  and  the  Bucktails.  I  sought 
the  famous  building.  I  stood  before  it.  I  remem 
bered  the  couplet : 

"There's  a  barrel  of  porter  in  Tammany  Hall, 
And  the  Bucktails  are  swigging  it  all  the  day  long." 

I  confronted  the  City  Hall.  To  my  youthful  eye 
it  seemed  an  architectural  marvel.  "Well,  to  this  day 
it  is  one  of  the  most  unique  specimens  of  its  order  in 
the  country. 

I  reached  Albany  in  the  forenoon.  Its  population 
was  fifteen  thousand.  I  repaired  to  the  Capitol.  It 
filled  me  with  wonder.  I  thought  it  equal  to  the  ed 
ifice  which  crowned  Capitoline  Hill  in  ancient  Rome. 
I  was  bewildered  when  I  learned  that  it  cost  $110,000. 
The  Tweed  style  of  doing  this  sort  of  a  thing  had  not 
then  been  discovered.  There  it  stood — its  massive 
walls;  its  fluted  columns;  its  towering  dome,  sur 
mounted  by  the  statue  of  Justice  bearing  aloft  the 
scales.  I  entered  the  Assembly  Chamber,  and  lis 
tened  to  an  angry  debate  between  Samuel  Young, 
Erastus  Eoot,  and  Francis  Granger,  then  among  the 
renowned  politicians  of  Xew  York.  Granger  was 
the  attraction  of  the  ladies'  gallery.  Dressed  in  a 
bottle-green  coat  with  gilt  buttons  and  brilliant  ap 
purtenances,  he  was  a  model  of  grace  and  beauty.  I 
went  into  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  heard  a  discussion 
about  the  canals  by  Cadwallader  D.  Colden,  Peter  E. 
Livingston,  and  Silas  Wright,  Lieutenant-governor 


DE    WITT    CLINTON. THE    ERIE    CANAL.  23 

James  Tallmadge,  who  had  won  distinction  in  Con 
gress  in  the  Missouri  controversy,  filled  the  chair. 
These  things  and  these  men  looked  large  to  me  then. 
Years  afterwards,  when  a  member  of  the  same  body, 
and  standing  behind  the  scenes,  they  dwindled  in 
magnitude. 

I  saw  the  governor  in  the  Executive  Chamber.  .De 
"Witt  Clinton  was  one  of  the  most  magnificent  men 
that  ever  stood  on  the  soil  of  New  York.  He  was 
then  in  the  height  of  his  grandeur  and  glory.  The 
Erie  Canal,  his  greatest  achievement,  had  been  fin 
ished  the  previous  fall,  and  he  had  come  from  Buffalo 
to  Albany,  and  thence  to  New  York,  in  the  canal- 
boat  Seneca  Chief,  through  an  unbroken  succession 
of  cheers  and  the  booming  of  cannon.  Amid  many 
imposing  ceremonies,  a  barrel  of  water  brought  from 
Buffalo  to  New  York  was  emptied  into  its  harbor,  and 
then  another  barrel  was  carried  from  New  York  to 
Buffalo,  and  poured  into  its  harbor,  and  thus  was 
Lake  Erie  wedded  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Mr.  Clin 
ton  then  ranked  among  the  foremost  statesmen  in  the 
nation. 

The  canal  not  being  wholly  free  of  ice,  I  went  by 
stage-coach  to  Utica.  The  tributaries  of  the  Mohawk 
River  not  having  been  then  denuded  of  their  protect 
ing  forests,  its  banks  were  full.  On  arriving  at  Utica 
I  could  say  with  Tom  Moore, 

"From  rise  of  morn  to  set  of  suu, 
I've  seen  the  mighty  Mohawk  run." 

Utica  w^as  a  gem  of  a  city,  with  four  thousand  five 
hundred  souls.     There  I  took  the  packet-boat  for 


24  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Rochester.  We  passed  through  Syracuse  in  a  driz 
zling  rain.  It  contained  about  two  thousand  five 
hundred  people,  and  was  just  scrambling  out  of  its 
salt-pits,  covered  with  mud  and  slime.  By-the-by,  I 
supposed  that  the  Erie  Canal  was  a  pellucid  stream 
like  my  own  Pacliaug.  I  found  it  the  muddiest  ditch 
I  ever  saw.  We  shot  into  Eochester  through  the 
aqueduct  across  the  Genesee  as  the  sun  was  peeping 
over  the  shoulders  of  the  hills  in  Brighton.  The  aque 
duct  seemed  to  me  equal  to  those  famous  structures 
which  supplied  old  Rome  with  water. 

In  April,  1826,  Rochester  was  a  little  town  of  three 
thousand  five  hundred  inhabitants,  clinging  to  both 
banks  of  the  Genesee  River.  In  the  centre  of  the  vil 
lage  roared  the  Falls,  one  hundred  feet  high.  It  al 
ready  showed  premonitory  symptoms  of  its  coming 
beauty  and  greatness.  It  was  growing  with  marvel 
lous  rapidity.  Stumps  of  trees  w^ere  standing  in  its 
principal  streets,  and  the  woodman's  axe  was  hewing 
down  the  forest  to  make  room  for  other  streets. 

In  September,  1826,  William  Morgan  was  abducted 
from  Canandaigua,  carried  through  Rochester,  and  in 
carcerated  in  Fort  Niagara,  which  had  been  abandoned 
by  the  government.  Then  broke  out  the  Anti-ma 
sonic  excitement,  which  convulsed  Western  New 
York  for  many  years.  These  bitter  controversies 
tore  society  all  in  pieces.  Their  history  has  been 
written  again  and  again,  and  I  shall  not  repeat  a  line 
of  it,  although  I  was  a  witness  of  the  whole  of  it. 
The  statement  of  Thurlow  Weed,  published  since  his 
death,  in  regard  to  the  fate  of  Morgan,  is,  no  doubt, 
substantially  true.  I  knew  all  the  principal  charac- 


THURLOW    WEED    IN    1826.  25 

ters  mentioned  in  that  statement.  I  have  seen  many 
sharp  political  and  social  contests  in  my  da}r,  but, 
viewed  in  some  aspects,  I  think  the  Anti-masonic 
feuds  excelled  them  all. 

When  I  came  to  Rochester,  in  April,  1826,  Mr. 
Weed  was  the  editor  of  a  dingy  weekly  Clintonian 
newspaper,  called  the  Monroe  Telegraph.  He  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Assembly  the  year  before.  He 
was  one  of  the  poorest  and  worst  -  dressed  men  in 
Rochester.  He  dwelt  in  a  cheap  house,  in  an  obscure 
part  of  the  village.  In  the  western  counties  of  the 
state,  however,  he  was  then  as  great  a  powrer  in  poli 
tics,  perhaps,  as  at  any  subsequent  period  of  his  life. 
He  was  often  sent  by  his  associates  on  missions  of 
grave  importance  into  various  states.  He  sometimes 
had  to  borrow  clothes  to  give  him  an  appearance  be 
fitting  his  talents.  I  wTas  standing  one  day-in  the 
street  with  Mr.  Weed  and  Frederick  Whittlesey,  who 
was  afterwards  Yice  chancellor  and  Judge  of  the  Old 
Supreme  Court,  when  up  came  Weed's  little  son,  and 
said,  "  Father,  mother  wants  a  shilling  to  buy  some 
bread."  Weed  put  on  a  queer  look,  felt  in  his  pock 
ets,  and  remarked,  "  That  is  a  home  appeal,  but  I'll 
be  hanged  if  I've  got  the  shilling."  Whittlesey  drew 
out  a  silver  dollar,  gave  it  to  the  boy,  and  said, "  Take 
that  home  to  your  mother."  He  seized  the  glittering 
prize,  and  ran  off  like  a  deer.  I  don't  mention  these 
things  to  the  discredit  of  Mr.  Weed,  but  to  his  honor . 
It  was  rare  that  a  man  who  was  so  poor  should  be  so 
great.  Spattered  with  ink,  and  writh  bare  arms,  he 
pulled  at  the  old  hand -press  of  the  Telegraph,  and 
at  a  rickety  table  that  wrould  have  been  dear  at  fifty 


26  EANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

cents  he  wrote  those  sparkling  paragraphs  which,  in 
later  years,  made  the  Albany  Evening  Journal  famous. 

In  the  fall  of  1826  Luther  Tucker  &  Co.  estab 
lished  in  Rochester  the  earliest  daily  journal  issued 
between  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  rivers  and  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  It  was  entitled  the  Rochester  Daily 
Advertiser,  and  was  edited  in  a  spirited  manner  by 
Henry  O'Eeilly.  It  continues  to  the  present  day  as 
the  Advertiser  and  Union.  Soon  after  it  was  start 
ed  the  Advertiser  became  a  Democratic  exponent,  and 
for  many  months  a  good  share  of  Weed's  and  O'Reil 
ly's  time  seemed  to  be  devoted  to  firing  red-hot  shot 
at  each  other.  Having  been  inducted  into  the  mys 
tery  of  newspaper  scribbling  about  two  years  before 
by  my  toAvnsman,  George  D.  Prentice,  I  took  a  hand 
occasionally  in  those  pen-and-ink  contests. 

We  had  a  little  theatre  at  Rochester,  managed  by 
an  Englishman  named  Williams,  who  had  played  sub 
ordinate  parts  to  Edmund  Kean  in  London.  Kean 
stopped  at  Rochester,  with  one  or  two  companions, 
on  his  way  to  Niagara  Falls  for  rest.  Williams  was 
always  in  debt,  and  generally  in  the  hands  of  the 
sheriff.  He  saw  Kean  at  the  hotel,  and  implored 
him  to  play  one  night  and  help  him  out  of  difficulty. 
Please  remember  this  vras  the  original  Kean,  the  real 
Kean,  the  great  Kean  ;  not  the  feeble  imitation  which 
appeared  in  his  son,  Charles  Kean.  The  peerless  act 
or  yielded  to  the  importunities  of  Williams.  Ample 
time  for  preparation  was  given ;  the  price  of  seats 
was  put  far  above  the  current  rates  in  ISTew  York; 
the  play  was  "  The  Iron  Chest,"  Kean,  of  course,  tak 
ing  the  part  of  Sir  Edward  Mortimer.  The  elite  of 


EDMUND  KEAN. SAM  PATCH.  27 

Monroe  and  one  or  two  adjoining  counties  crowded 
the  house  in  every  part.  The  affair  was  a  grand  suc 
cess.  At  the  close  of  the  performance  we  got  a  speech 
out  of  Kean,  and  Williams  got  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  sheriff. 

Sam  Patch,  the  famous  jumper  and  diver,  came  to 
Koch  ester  in  November,  1829,  and  proposed  to  leap 
from  the  Falls  in  the  heart  of  the  village.  On  the 
day  fixed  Sam  appeared.  The  banks  of  the  river,  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  were  lined  with  spectators. 
He  was  dressed  in  a  suit  of  white,  and  I  will  state, 
for  the  benefit  of  other  fools  of  the  same  class,  that, 
before  he  leaped,  he  placed  his  hands  firmly  on  his 
loins,  then  sprang  from  the  shelving  rock,  and  went 
down  straight  as  an  arrow.  He  came  up  feet  fore 
most,  and  swam  ashore  amid  the  shouts  of  thousands. 
A  few  days  later  he  proposed  to  leap  again.  He 
erected  a  scaffold  twenty-five  feet  high  on  the  brink 
of  the  Falls,  making  the  descent  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  feet.  On  the  day  named  another  im 
mense  throng  assembled.  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  and  I 
happened  to  meet  at  the  foot  of  the  scaffold.  Patch 
came,  dressed  as  before,  and  apparently  under  the  in 
fluence  of  liquor.  As  he  ascended  the  scaffold  Weed 
left,  bat  I  remained.  He  made  a  ridiculous  speech, 
and  then  jumped.  As  he  went  down  his  arms  were 
all  in  a  whirl,  and  he  struck  the  water  with  a  stun 
ning  splash.  The  crowd  waited  for  hours.  He  did 
not  rise.  The  next  spring  the  mangled  remains  of 
the  poor  wretch  were  found  at  the  foot  of  the  Falls 
at  Carthage,  four  miles  below  Eochester. 

Gerrit  Smith,  at  Eochester,  in  1827  or  1828,  deliv- 


28  RANDOM.    RECOLLECTIONS. 

ered  a  Colonization  address  in  the  Court-house.  Then 
thirty  years  of  age,  in  glowing  health,  and  with  a 
voice  that  Avas  pronounced  superior  in  melody  to 
Henry  Clay's,  he  was  a  noble  specimen  of  manly  dig 
nity  and  beauty.  He  was  master  of  a  theme  that 
attracted  the  attention  of  philanthropists  and  states 
men.  It  was  in  that  year,  I  believe,  that,  in  the  same 
building,  I  heard  a  speech  from  a  very  different  ora 
tor,  on  quite  a  dissimilar  subject.  This  was  the  fa 
mous  Fanny  Wright,  who  advocated  views  concern 
ing  woman  which  were  then  novel,  but  have  since 
become  familiar.  She  spoke  Avith  grace  and  ability, 
but  was  hardly  as  beautiful  as  the  engraving  in  vol.  i. 
of  "  The  History  of  Woman  Suffrage." 

When  I  passed  through  Albany  in  1826  I  saw  in 
the  Senate  Samuel  Wilkeson,  of  Buffalo,  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  of  the  pioneers  that  built  up  west 
ern  Xew  York.  Buffalo  then  contained  only  four 
thousand  five  hundred  people,  but  was  rapidly  in 
creasing  in  population,  trade,  and  wealth.  Judge 
Wilkeson,  eagle-eyed  and  lion-hearted,  possessed  keen 
sagacity  and  indomitable  enterprise,  and,  though  not 
versed  in  the  lore  of  the  schools,  he  had  what  no 
amount  of  learning  can  supply — an  original,  creative 
genius.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  commercial  pros 
perity  of  Buffalo.  He  constructed  its  harbor,  and 
thus  made  it  the  terminus  of  the  Erie  Canal  and  the 
outlet  of  the  trade  of  the  upper  lakes.  The  city  rec 
ognizes  its  obligations  to  the  man  to  whom  it  is  so 
largely  indebted  for  its  early  growth  and  present 
greatness. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Horatio  Seymour  when  a  Cadet ;  his  Father,  Henry  Seymour. 
-The  "Immortal  Seventeen"  Senators.  —  Marcy,  Flagg, 
Bouck  in  1826-1827.— Death  of  De  Witt  Clinton  in  1828;  Mar 
tin  Van  Buren  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler's  Eulogiums  on  Him; 
their  Drift  and  Purpose. — Yan  Buren  at  Kochester  in  1828; 
His  Variegated  Dress. — Koscoe  Conkling's  Style. — Presidential 
Struggle  between  Adams  and  Jackson  in  1828.  — Van  Buren 
Runs  for  Governor  to  Help  Jackson,  and  is  Chosen.  —  Smith 
Thompson  and  Solomon  South  wick  also  Candidates. — Jackson 
Elected  President. — Van  Buren  Appointed  Secretary  of  State.— 
Young  Men's  State  Convention  at  Utica  in  1828;  the  First  ever 
Held  in  the  Union;  William  H.  Seward  Presides;  his  Unexpected 
and  Embarrassing  Nomination  for  Congress  in  1828 ;  he  Declines 
to  Run. 

I  SAW  Horatio  Seymour  when  he  was  quite  young. 
Captain  Alden  Partridge,  who  had  been  professor  and 
superintendent  at  West  Point,  established,  in  1820,  a 
private  military  school  in  Yermont,  whence  he  re 
moved  it  to  Middletown,  Conn.  One  summer  he 
made  a  tour  of  the  latter  state  with  his  cadets.  They 
visited  Jewett  City,  where  I  was.  Horatio  Seymour 
was  one  of  them.  They  were  a  bright  bevy  of  bloom 
ing  boys,  carrying  little  guns,  and  dressed  in  gray 
jackets,  white  trousers,  and  jaunty  caps,  and  they  ma 
noeuvred  with  the  pride  and  precision  of  veterans.  A 
Revolutionary  officer,  in  whose  house  I  felt  at  home, 
gave  them  a  reception,  and  I  made  bold  to  shake 
hands  with  all  of  them.  Many  years  later,  when  I 


30  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

met  Mr.  Seymour  in  the  Assembly  at  Albany,  he 
spoke  of  his  tour  to  Jewett  City  as  a  cadet.  We  ex 
changed  smiles  over  our  early  acquaintance,  though 
probably  neither  of  us  had  heard  of  the  existence  of 
the  other  since  the  casual  handshake  on  the  banks 
of  the  Quinnebaug  Eiver. 

I  met  Henry  Seymour,  the  father  of  Horatio,  sev 
eral  times  at  Rochester  in  1826  and  1827.  He  was  a 
canal  commissioner  from  1819  to  1832,  and  for  six 
years  bore  an  active  share  in  the  construction  of 
the  Erie  Canal.  In  1826  and  1827  I  was  a  clerk  in 
the  canal  office  at  Rochester,  whose  chief  was  John 
Bowman,  one  of  the  so-called  "Immortal  Seventeen" 
Senators  (the  Clintonians  denounced  them  as  the  "  In 
famous  Seventeen  ")  that  defeated  the  bill  for  giving 
to  the  people  the  right  of  choosing  presidential  elect 
ors.  Bowman's  office  was  the  rendezvous  of  famous 
Democratic  politicians.  I  recall  the  visits  of  Comp 
troller  Marcy,  Secretary  of  State  Flagg,  Senators  Mai- 
lory  and  Heman  J.  Redfield,  two  of  the  "  Seventeen," 
and  William  C.  Bouck  and  Henry  Seymour,  Canal 
Commissioners.  My  young  ears  were  wide  open,  and 
I  learned  something  about  New  York  and  national 
politics  which  I  have  not  yet  forgotten.  Mr.  Sey 
mour  had  been  in  the  State  Senate  before  he  was 
commissioner.  He  was  the  coadjutor  —  indeed,  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Albany  Regency,  that  so  long 
bore  sway  in  the  Democratic  party.  It  will  be  read 
ily  believed  that  the  unflinching  politics  of  the  son, 
and  his  devotion  to  the  canal  system  of  New  York, 
were  hereditary  gifts  from  the  father.  In  figure  and 
face  the  late  governor,  when  in  his  prime,  bore  a  strik- 


DEATH    OF    DE    WITT    CLINTON.  31 

ing  resemblance  to  his  sire,  but  in  manners  and  social 
intercourse  lie  was  far  more  spirited  and  entertaining. 

In  February,  1828,  Be  Witt  Clinton  died,  without 
a  moment's  warning,  at  Albany.  The  profound  im 
pression  which  his  decease  produced  in  New  York  has 
never  been  equalled  by  any  similar  event.  The  con 
test  for  the  Presidency  between  John  Quincy  Adams 
and  Andrew  Jackson  had  just  opened.  Clinton  had 
declared  in  favor  of  Jackson,  and  was  bringing  over 
to  his  standard  as  rapidly  as  possible  his  great  follow 
ing.  The  personal  party  which  Clinton  had  built  up 
was  never  surpassed  in  the  state.  Martin  Yan  Buren, 
Senator  in  Congress,  head  of  the  Albany  Eegency, 
and  an  opponent  of  Clinton,  was  the  Jackson  leader 
in  New  York.  It  was  understood  that  Jackson's  par 
tialities  for  Clinton  were  so  strong  that,  in  case  of  his 
election,  he  would  have  made  him  Secretary  of  State, 
and  Yan  Buren  would  have  had  to  wait.  At  a  meet 
ing  of  the  New  York  delegation  in  Congress,  held  at 
Washington,  in  regard  to  the  death  of  Clinton,  Ste 
phen  Yan  Eensselaer,  the  Albany  Patroon,  presided, 
and  Yan  Buren  made  the  memorial  speech.  He  closed 
with  these  words :  "  I,  who  never  envied  him  anything 
while  living,  am  now  tempted  to  envy  him  his  grave 
with  its  honors." 

In  the  winter  of  1828  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  who  had 
been  the  law  partner  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  was  in  the 
Assembly  from  Albany.  He  was  one  of  the  revisers 
of  the  Statutes,  and  was  sent  to  the  Legislature  mainly 
to  look  after  the  passage  of  the  new  code,  John  C. 
Spencer,  another  of  the  revisers,  being  in  the  Senate 
chiefly  for  the  same  purpose.  The  morning  after  the 


32  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

death  of  the  illustrious  governor,  Mr.  Butler,  an  ar 
dent  Democrat,  announced  the  event  to  the  Assem 
bly  in  a  eulogium  on  Clinton  of  rare  eloquence. 
Mr.  Yan  Buren  followed  this  line  of  encomium  in  his 
speech  at  "Washington ;  and  then  was  commenced  the 
concerted  effort  to  bring  Clinton's  Jacksonian  friends 
in  ~New  York  to  the  support  of  the  Kinderhook  ma 
gician,  as  well  as  to  the  aid  of  the  Hero  of  the  Her 
mitage. 

Yan  Buren  was  in  due  time  nominated  for  gov 
ernor  for  the  ensuing  election,  to  help  Jackson  carry 
Xew  York.  His  first  mission  was  to  conciliate  the 
friends  of  Clinton.  In  the  summer  of  1828  he  made 
a  tour  for  that  purpose.  He  came  to  Rochester.  The 
next  day  was  the  Sabbath.  He  attended  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  the  wealthy  and  aristocratic 
church  of  the  town,  and  occupied  the  pew  of  General 
Gould,  one  of  the  elders,  Avho  had  been  a  life-long 
Federalist  and  supporter  of  Clinton.  All  eyes  were 
fixed  upon  the  man  who  held  Jackson's  fate  in  his 
hands.  Mr.  Yan  Buren  was  rather  an  exquisite  in 
personal  appearance.  His  complexion  was  a  bright 
blonde,  and  he  dressed  accordingly.  On  this  occa 
sion  he  wore  an  elegant  snuff-colored  broadcloth  coat 

O 

with  velvet  collar ;  his  cravat  was  orange  with  mod 
est  lace  tips ;  his  vest  was  of  a  pearl  hue ;  his  trousers 
were  white  duck ;  his  silk  hose  corresponded  to  the 
vest ;  his  shoes  were  morocco  ;  his  nicely-fitting  gloves 
were  yellow  kid ;  his  long-furred  beaver  hat,  with 
broad  brim,  was  of  Quaker  color.  Eoscoe  Conkling, 
his  distinguished  successor  in  the  Senate,  never  ex 
celled  that. 

My  idol,  Mr.  Clay,  then  Secretary  of  State,  was  in- 


WILLIAM    H.  SEWARD    IN    1828.  33 

volved  in  the  struggle  bet  ween  Adams  and  Jackson, 
and  I  Avas,  therefore,  for  Adams.  Early  in  the  spring 
I  made  a  speech  in  favor  of  Adams  at  Kochester.  In 
the  summer  I  attended  a  Young  Men's  Adams  State 
Convention  at  Utica,  whereof  William  H.  Seward  was 
President.  Here  commenced  an  acquaintance  between 
us  which  lasted  till  the  death  of  that  great  statesman, 
in  IS 72.  I  delivered  several  addresses  in  Monroe 
County  during  this  campaign,  and  wrote  some  arti 
cles  in  Mr.  "Weed's  Telegraph,  and  in  November  cast 
my  first  presidential  vote.  The  Adams  nominee  for 
governor,  an  old  Bucktail,  and  then  on  the  Supreme 
bench  at  Washington,  was  Smith  Thompson,  after 
whom  Van  Buren  had  named  one  of  his  sons.  The 
day  went  against  us  in  New  York,  owing  to  votes 
thrown  away  on  Solomon  Southwick,  the  Anti-ma 
sonic  candidate  for  governor.  Van  Buren  was  cho 
sen,  and  in  March  he  resigned,  and  took  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State  under  Jackson. 

The  Convention  at  Utica  was  the  first  assemblage  of 
the  kind  in  any  state  of  the  Union.  The  fact,  doubt 
less,  seems  exquisitely  absurd  to  the  few  delegates 
that  yet  live,  when  they  remember  that  for  several 
years  they  were  pointed  out  as  "the  Boys  who  at 
tended  the  Young  Men's  State  Convention."  Our 
early  celebrity  was  easily  Avon. 

I  relate  the  following  anecdote  as  I  recall  it  when 
falling  from  Mr.  Se ward's  lips,  soon  after  the  event. 
He  had  Avon  distinction  by  his  presidency  over  the 
Young  Men's  State  Convention,  and  there  Avas  a  gen 
eral  desire  in  the  Adams  party  for  his  advancement. 
A  member  of  Congress  was  to  be  chosen  in  the  Cayu- 
2* 


3-i  RANDOM    KECOLLECTIONS. 

ga  district,  but  Seward  did  not  aspire  to  the  position. 
He  was  then  twenty-seven  years  old.  The  party  in 
Cayuga  relied  on  his  facile  pen  to  draft  the  addresses 
of  their  conventions,  which  then  filled  the  place  of 
the  long  strings  of  resolutions  of  a  later  period.  The 
Adams  leaders  in  Auburn  had  fixed  on  the  nomina 
tion  of  an  old  and  popular  citizen,  not  dreaming  that 
the  approaching  convention  would  fail  to  accept  him. 
Taking  it  for  granted  that  he  would  be  the  candidate, 
young  Seward  wrote  an  address  describing  the  nomi 
nee  as  an  aged  inhabitant  of  Cayuga,  who  had  long 
dwelt  in  the  county,  had  filled  important  offices  dur 
ing  an  honorable  career,  and  was  revered  for  his  years, 
solid  attainments,  and  many  virtues.  Having  pre 
pared  the  address,  Mr.  Seward  left  Auburn  for  a  dis 
tant  county  to  try  a  case  in  court. 

The  convention  got  into  a  snarl,  and,  after  a  long 
contest,  rejected  the  foreshadowed  candidate,  and,  as 
a  last  resort,  compromised  on  Seward.  In  the  dusk 
of  the  evening  they  adopted  Seward's  address  with 
out  having  read  it,  and  sent  the  record  of  their  pro 
ceedings  to  the  printer  of  the  weekly  newspaper,  with 
verbal  directions  to  insert  Seward's  name  in  the  ad 
dress.  It  was  put  in  type,  and  soon  appeared.  Judge 
of  Seward's  surprise  and  chagrin  when  he  arrived 
home  to  find  himself  not  only  nominated  for  Con 
gress,  but  presented  to  the  voters  of  Cayuga  as  an 
aged  inhabitant,  who  had  long  dwelt  in  the  county, 
and  was  revered  for  his  years  and  virtues,  and  so  on, 
in  the  glowing  phrases  of  his  own  address.  He 
emerged  from  the  ridiculous  position  in  which  the 
convention  had  placed  him  by  peremptorily  declin 
ing  the  nomination. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Courts  and  Counsellors  at  Rochester  in  1827-1830.— Daniel  D. 
Barnard. — Addison  Gardiner.— Samuel  L.  Selden.— Occasional 
Visitors. — Eiisha  Williams. — John  C.  Spencer. — Daniel  Cady. — 
Henry  R.  Storrs. — Millard  Fillmore. — William  H.  Seward  and 
others. — Thurlow  Weed  Chosen  to  the  Assembly  in  1829. — "A 
good  enough  Morgan  till  after  the  Election." — Weed  Founds 
the  Albany  Evening  Journal  in  April,  1830. — The  State  Mends 
William  L.  Marcy's  "Pantaloons."  —  The  Patch  a  Campaign 
Issue  when  he  Ran  for  Governor.— John  W.  Taylor,  of  Sara 
toga,  an  1  the  Missouri  Compromise.  —  Marcy  and  Silas  Wright 
on  its  Repeal. — The  Wilmot  Proviso. — Marcy  and  Wright  Com 
pared. — The  Rochester  Clergy  in  1830. — Charles  G.  Finney,  the 
Famous  Evangelist. — His  Pulpit  Oratory. 

IN  January,  1829,  I  became  Deputy  Clerk  of  Mon 
roe  County.  The  clerk  lived  many  miles  out  of  town, 
and  the  responsibilities  of  the  office  fell  entirely  upon 
me.  I  officiated  as  clerk  for  nearly  three  years  in  all 
the  Courts  of  Record.  In  witnessing  conflicts  of  law 
yers — and  some  of  them  were  the  heads  of  the  profes 
sion — I  learned  a  great  deal  of  law,  and  especially  in 
the  matter  of  evidence.  Indeed,  I  was  studying  law 
all  these  years.  Among  the  leaders  of  the  profession 
in  Monroe  were  Daniel  D.  Barnard,  Addison  Gardiner, 
and  Samuel  L.  Selden,  names  that  will  be  instantly 
recognized  by  the  Ear  throughout  the  state.  We  had 
occasional  visits  from  such  men  as  Eiisha  Williams, 
John  C.  Spencer,  Daniel  Cady,  Dudley  Marvin,  B. 
Davis  Noxen,  and  Henry  R.  Storrs;  while  among 


36  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  young  lawyers  who  tried  causes  in  our  county 
were  Millard  Fillmore  and  William  II.  Seward.  It 
was  under  such  auspices  that  I  took  my  first  lessons  in 
legal  lore. 

In  1829  it  was  resolved  to  run  Thurlow  Weed  for 
the  Assembly.  The  campaign  was  to  the  last  degree 
acrimonious.  Weed's  leadership  in  the  Anti-masonic 
excitement  had  raised  up  against  him  an  army  of  en 
emies.  The  famous  cry  of  "  A  good  enough  Morgan 
till  after  the  election"  was  worked  for  all  it  was 
worth.  Weed  was  a  tremendous  power  at  the  polls. 
With  one  hand  full  of  ballots  and  the  other  on  the 
shoulder  of  a  hesitating  voter,  it  was  impossible  for 
his  prisoner  to  escape  the  influence  of  his  magnetic 
eye.  Weed's  opponent  was  a  prominent  member  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  congregation.  It  was  deemed  im 
portant  that  Weed  should  attend  service  there  on  the 
Sabbath  previous  to  the  election.  He  borrowed  some 
garments,  came  in  on  time,  wearing  a  wretched  cra 
vat  and  a  shocking  bad  hat.  He  abstained  from  the 
polls,  but  could  not  help  taking  a  seat  in  a  loft  which 
overlooked  the  principal  voting-place  of  Rochester, 
and  for  three  days  during  which  the  contest  lasted 
he  walked  the  room  like  a  caged  lion.  I  now  and 
then  repaired  to  the  room,  and,  as  Weed  would  look 
out  upon  the  sidewalk,  and  see  a  doubtful  voter  ap 
proaching  the  polls,  he  would  wring  his  hands  and 
say,  "  Oh,  what  would  I  give  if  I  could  see  that  man 
for  one  moment !"  Weed  was  triumphant,  and  went 
to  the  Assembly,  and  in  April,  1830,  he  issued  the 
first  number  of  the  Albany  Evening  Journal. 

Anecdotes  of  the  living  paint  truer  likenesses  than 


37 

funeral  orations.  The  phrase  "  A  good  enough  Mor 
gan  till  after  the  election"  grew  out  of  the  charge 
that  Mr.  Weed  had  clipped  off  with  shears  the  whis 
kers  of  the  dead  Timothy  Monro  to  make  him  pass 
for  William  Morgan,  then  not  known  to  be  dead, 
who  had  no  whiskers.  At  Rochester,  in  the  Presi 
dential  election  of  1828,  Mr.  Weed,  for  three  days, 
was  waving  his  magic  wand  over  the  ballot-boxes. 
A  rough  fellow  kept  all  the  while  close  to  his  heels, 
clipping  at  him  with  shears  three  feet  long,  bearing 
the  words  "A  good  enough  Morgan  till  after  the 
election "  engraved  on  each  blade.  Mr.  Weed  en 
dured  the  insult  with  becoming  equanimity. 

Who  has  not  heard  of  William  L.  Marcy's  charge 
against  the  state  "  For  mending  my  pantaloons,  50 
cents"?  In  1830  he  was  sent  into  western  New 
York  while  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  under  a 
special  law,  to  try  the  Anti-masonic  cases,  the  act 
providing  for  the  payment  of  his  travelling  expenses. 
When  auditing  accounts  as  comptroller  he  always  de 
manded  itemized  bills,  and  as  special  judge  he  adhered 
to  this  proper  rule,  and  therefore  put  the  fifty  cents 
in  with  the  other  items.  While  running  for  govern 
or,  in  1832,  this  item  literally  cut  a  figure  all  over  the 
state.  At  Rochester  the  Anti-masons  erected  a  pole 
fifty  feet  high  on  the  main  street,  and  suspended  at 
its  top  a  huge  pair  of  black  trousers,  with  a  white 
patch  on  the  seat,  bearing  the  figure  50  in  red  paint, 
where  it  flapped  through  three  gusty  days.  The 
grand  old  governor  always  enjoyed  this  fifty-cent  epi 
sode  in  his  political  career.  So  he  did  the  prank  of 
the  stage-driver  in  whose  coach  he  was  riding  in  west- 


38  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

ern  New  York  in  the  summer  after  he  was  chosen 
governor.  The  road  was  horribly  muddy  and  rough. 
As  they  were  wallowing  through  a  bad  slough  the 
driver  shouted,  "  Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  hold  on 
tight,  for  this  is  the  very  hole  where  Governor  Marcy 
tore  his  breeches."  The  governor  paid  for  the  din 
ners  at  the  next  tavern. 

Governor  Marcy  relished  jokes  on  himself.  Mr. 
Weed  did  not. 

In  the  summer  of  1830  I  was  dining  with  a  friend 
at  the  Mansion  House  in  Albany.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  the  table  sat  two  gentlemen,  one  of  whom  I 
recognized  as  Silas  Wright.  The  other  was  John  W. 
Taylor,  who  had  then  been  eighteen  years  in  Con 
gress,  and  twice  speaker.  My  friend  slightly  knew 
Mr.  Taylor,  and  introduced  me  to  him,  and  he  intro 
duced  us  to  Mr.  Wright,  the  state  comptroller.  These 
three  gentlemen  represented  the  leading  parties  of 
New  York,  the  politics  whereof  wrere  then  in  a  tran 
sition  condition.  Mr.  Taylor  followed  Clay ;  Wright 
was  a  disciple  of  Van  Buren,  and  my  friend,  who  had 
been  chosen  to  the  State  Senate  the  previous  fall,  was 
an  Anti-mason.  Mr.  Taylor,  being  the  eldest  of  the 
company,  did  most  of  the  talking,  and  I,  being  the 
youngest,  did  most  of  the  listening.  Taylor  told  in 
teresting  anecdotes  of  public  men  he  had  met  at 
Washington,  and  the  genial  comptroller  contributed 
a  few  racy  stories.  One  of  Taylor's  heroes  was  a 
Southern  Congressman,  who  had  been  conspicuous 
in  the  contest  over  the  admission  of  Missouri  to  the 
Union.  This  emboldened  me  to  say  that  I  had  read, 
as  soon  as  it  appeared,  Mr.  Taylor's  famous  argument 


MARCY    AND    WRIGHT   COMPARED.  39 

in  that  memorable  controversy.  The  ex-speaker 
seemed  pleased  that  so  young  a  man  remembered 
this  crowning  act  in  his  long  and  distinguished  Con 
gressional  career. 

One  of  the  ablest  men  that  New  York  has  sent  to 
the  Senate  was  Silas  "Wright,  where  he  sat  twelve 
years,  till  chosen  governor  of  the  state.  His  mod 
esty  would  have  kept  him  in  the  background  among 
associates  many  of  whom  were  eminent  in  the  na 
tional  councils,  if  his  talents  for  deliberation  and  de 
bate  had  not  borne  him  to  their  front  rank.  A  man's 
status  in  the  Senate  is  determined  by  the  calibre  and 
skill  of  the  opponents  who  are  selected  to  cross  weap 
ons  with  him  in  the  forum.  Wright  was  unostenta 
tious,  studious,  thoughtful,  grave.  He  was,  therefore, 
liable  to  be  underrated  by  pushing,  flippant,  shallow, 
noisy  members.  Whenever  he  delivered  an  elaborate 
speech  the  Whigs  set  Clay,  Webster,  Ewing,  or  some 
other  of  their  leaders  to  reply  to  him. 

William  L.  Marcy  was  the  immediate  predecessor 
of  Mr.  Wright  in  the  New  York  comptrollership  and 
the  United  States  Senate.  Each  possessed  rare  tal 
ents,  but  they  were  totally  dissimilar  in  mental  traits 
and  political  methods.  Both  were  statesmen  of  scru 
pulous  honesty,  who  despised  jobbery.  Marcy  was 
wily,  and  loved  intrigue.  Wright  Avas  proverbially 
open  and  frank.  Marcy  never  trained  himself  to  be 
a  public  speaker,  and  did  not  shine  in  the  hand-to- 
hand  conflicts  of  a  body  that  Avas  lustrous  with  foren 
sic  talents.  FCAV,  however,  have  excelled  him  in  the 
administration  of  executive  offices,  as  Avas  shown  by 
his  twelve  years'  service  as  comptroller  and  governor 


40  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  New  York,  and  his  eight  years'  management  of 
the  War  and  State  departments  at  Washington. 

On  the  great  question  that  loomed  threateningly 
on  the  horizon  while  they  were  Democratic  leaders 
Wright  and  Marcy  took  opposite  sides.  Wright 
moved  calmly  along  with  the  advancing  liberal  sen 
timent  of  the  period,  and  died  a  firm  advocate  of  the 
policy  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  On  this  test-measure 
Marcy  took  no  step  forward.  Ten  years  after  the 
grave  had  closed  over  his  rival  he  descended  to  the 
tomb  a  mild  apologist  for  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise. 

The  clergy  of  Rochester  in  1830  were  very  able. 
The  minister  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  was 
Dr.  Penny  ;  the  pastor  of  the  second  was  Mr.  James, 
son  of  the  Albany  millionaire,  familiarly  called  "  Billy  " 
James ;  the  pulpit  of  the  third  was  vacant ;  the  Epis 
copal  clergyman  was  Mr.  Whitehouse,  subsequently 
the  distinguished  Bishop  of  Illinois;  Dr.  Comstock, 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  had  served  six  years  in  Con 
gress  ;  the  Methodist  preacher  Avas  a  brother  of  Mil- 
lard  Fillmore.  In  October,  1830,  Charles  G.  Finney, 
the  famous  evangelist,  came  to  Rochester  to  supply 
the  pulpit  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church.  I  had 
been  absent  a  few  days,  and  on  my  return  was  asked 
to  hear  him.  It  was  in  the  afternoon.  A  tall,  grave- 
looking  man,  dressed  in  an  unclerical  suit  of  gray,  as 
cended  the  pulpit.  Light  hair  covered  his  forehead  ; 
his  eyes  were  of  a  sparkling  blue,  and  his  pose  and 
movement  dignified.  I  listened.  It  did  not  sound 
like  preaching,  but  like  a  lawyer  arguing  a  case  be 
fore  a  court  and  jury.  This  was  not  singular,  per- 


CHARLES    G.  FINNEY    IN    1830.  41 

haps,  for  the  speaker  had  been  a  lawyer  before  he 
became  a  clergyman.  The  discourse  was  a  chain  of 
logic,  brightened  by  felicity  of  illustration  and  en 
forced  by  urgent  appeals  from  a  voice  of  great  com 
pass  and  melody.  Mr.  Finney  was  then  in  the  ful 
ness  of  his  powers,  lie  had  won  distinction  else 
where,  but  was  little  known  in  Kochester.  He 
preached  there  six  months,  usually  speaking  three 
times  on  the  Sabbath,  and  three  or  four  times  during 
the  week.  His  style  was  particularly  attractive  for 
lawyers.  He  illustrated  his  points  frequently  and 
happily  by  references  to  legal  principles.  The  first 
effect  was  produced  among  the  higher  classes.  It 
began  with  the  judges,  the  lawyers,  the  physicians, 
the  bankers,  and  the  merchants,  and  worked  its  way 
down  to  the  bottom  of  society,  till  nearly  everybody 
had  joined  one  or  the  other  of  the  churches  controlled 
by  the  different  denominations.  I  have  heard  many 
celebrated  pulpit  orators  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 
Taken  all  in  all,  I  never  knew  the  superior  of  Charles 
G.  Finney.  His  sway  over  an  audience  was  wonder 
ful.  Do  not  infer  that  there  was  a  trace  of  rant  or 
fustian  in  him.  You  might  as  well  apply  these  terms 
to  heavy  artillery  on  a  field  of  battle.  His  sermons 
were  usually  an  hour  long,  but  on  some  occasions  I 
have  known  an  audience  which  packed  every  part  of 
the  house  and  filled  the  aisles  listen  to  him  without 
the  movement  of  a  foot  for  two  hours  and  a  half.  In 
his  loftiest  moods,  and  in  the  higher  passages  of  a 
discourse  on  a  theme  of  transcendent  importance,  he 
was  the  impersonation  of  majesty  and  power.  While 
depicting  the  glories  or  the  terrors  of  the  world  to 


42  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

come,  he  trod  the  pulpit  like  a  giant.  His  action  was 
dramatic.  Pie  painted  in  vivid  colors.  He  gave  his 
imagination  full  play.  His  voice,  wide  in  scope  and 
mellow  in  pathos,  now  rung  in  tones  of  warning  and 
expostulation,  and  anon  melted  in  sympathetic  ac 
cents  of  entreaty  and  encouragement.  He  was  a  fine 
singer,  and,  when  a  lawyer,  used  to  lead  the  choir  and 
play  the  bass-viol  in  his  town.  In  singing  the  Dox- 
ology  he  alone  could  fill  the  largest  edifices.  His 
gestures  were  appropriate,  forcible,  and  graceful.  As 
he  would  stand  with  his  face  towards  the  side  gallery, 
and  then  involuntarily  wheel  around,  the  audience  in 
that  part  of  the  house  towards  which  he  threw  his 
arm  would  dodge  as  if  he  were  hurling  something  at 
them.  In  describing  the  sliding  of  a  sinner  to  per 
dition,  he  would  lift  his  long  finger  towards  the  ceil 
ing  and  slowly  bring  it  down  till  it  pointed  to  the 
area  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  when  half  his  hearers  in 
the  rear  of  the  house  would  rise  unconsciously  to  their 
feet  to  see  him  descend  into  the  pit  below.  Bear  in 
mind  that  this  was  without  the  slightest  approach  to 
rhodomontade  or  exuberant  excitement  on  the  part 
of  the  orator.  Mr.  Finney  regarded  his  success  at 
Rochester  as  among  the  greatest  of  his  remarkable 
career.  In  theology  he  was  a  New-School  Presbyte 
rian. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Author  Goes  to  Lane  Seminary  in  1831.— President  Lyman 
Beecher  Tried  for  Heresy  at  Cincinnati. — Henry  Ward  Beecher 
Says  his  Father  is  "  Plagued  Good  at  Twisting." — New  and  Old 
School  Theological  Magnates. — "In  Adam's  Fall  we  Sinned 
all."  —  Dr.  Bemau's  Parody. — Dr.  Beechcr's  Eccentricities. — 
First  Anti-slavery  Speech.— James  G.  Birney,  and  General  Bir- 
riey,  his  Son. — "Boys,  Keep  your  Eye  on  that  Flag."— First 
Mob.— Anti-slavery  Debate  at  Lane  in  1834. — Its  Consequences. 
— Early  Anti-slavery  Career. — The  Author  Addresses  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Legislature  on  Freedom,  in  1837. — The  Epoch  of 
Mobs. —East  Green w ich.  — Utica. — Boston. — Newport. — Provi 
dence. —  Bishop  Clark  of  Rhode  Island. — Methodist  Church 
Burned.  — Pennsylvania  Hall  Burned.  —  Quaker  Meeting-house 
Sacked  in  Portland.— John  Neal,  the  Poet,  Puts  the  Mob  down. 
—Senator  William  Pitt  Fessenden. — "I  am  that  Person." — Mob 
in  Norwich,  Connecticut. — Mobbed  in  many  States. — Never  in 
Vermont. 

I  DESIRED  to  supply  deficiencies  in  an  imperfect  edu 
cation.  After  studying  the  classics  a  year  or  more 
in  and  around  Rochester,  during  which  time  one  of 
my  instructors  was  Rev.  Ferdinand  D.  W.  Ward,  fa 
ther  of  the  now  notorious  Ferdinand  Ward,  of  Grant 
&  Ward  (the  "Wards  Avere  a  distinguished  Rochester 
family),  I  went  in  the  spring  of  1832  to  Lane  Semi 
nary,  near  Cincinnati,  over  which  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher  was  to  preside.  Having  to  support  younger 
brothers  in  their  educational  aspirations,  I  would  fain, 
save  a  little  by  going  to  Cincinnati  part  way  on  a  raft 
of  lumber.  I  helped  to  load  a  raft  at  Olean,  N.  Y., 


4-i  EAKEOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  then  aided  to  guide  it  down  the  whirling  currents 
of  the  Alleghany  Kiver  to  Pittsburgh.  There  I  took 
a  deck  passage  on  a  steamboat  to  Cincinnati.  I  be 
lieve  I  did  my  full  share  of  the  work  of  managing  an 
oar  on  the  raft,  and  preventing  it  from  following  the 
bad  example  of  several  other  rafts,  which  lost  their 
heads  and  scattered  their  bones  along  the  banks  of 
the  turbulent  river. 

Dr.  Beecher  was  tried  for  heresy  by  the  Presbytery 
of  Cincinnati  for  certain  utterances  of  his  in  New 
England.  The  case  had  reached  the  synod,  which 
met  in  Cincinnati  in  1834.  The  testimony  Avas  all  in. 
One  forenoon  Dr.  Beecher  commenced  summing  up  in 
his  defence.  As  usual,  he  was  able  and  ingenious  while 
addressing  his  distinguished  auditory.  On  the  ad 
journment  at  noon  he  took  a  select  party  to  his  house 
for  dinner,  among  whom  were  some  of  his  antago 
nists.  As  was  the  doctor's  wont  in  enthusiastic  hours, 
he  kept  right  on  making  his  speech  at  the  dinner- 
table.  He  was  vivid,  elastic,  and  facetious.  He  seemed 
particularly  desirous  of  favorably  impressing  his  mod 
erate  opponents.  Suddenly  there  piped  up  from  the 
lower  end  of  the  table  a  voice  which  uttered  these 
words :  "  Father,  I  listened  to  your  speech  in  the  syn 
od  this  morning,  and  I  know  you  are  plagued  good  at 
twisting,  but  if  you  can  twist  your  creed  on  to  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  you  can  twist  bet 
ter  than  I  think  you  can."  The  doctor's  countenance 
fell,  but  only  for  a  moment.  He  suddenly  rallied,  and 
said, "  All  my  boys  are  smart,  and  some  of  them  are 
impudent."  Then,  of  course,  rose  a  laugh.  The  voice 
that  piped  up  from  the  lower  end  of  the  table  belonged 


LYMAN    AND    HENRY    WARD    BEECHER.  45 

to  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Whether  he  can  twist  his 
creed  on  to  the  Confession  of  Faith  it  does  not  be 
come  me  to  decide.  The  doctor's  case  went  up  to  the 
General  Assembly,  and  was  yet  undecided  when  the 
Presbyterian  Church  was  rent  in  two  in  1838. 

Doctor  Beecher  was  one  of  the  magnates  of  the 
New  School,  in  whose  ranks  shone  Dr.  Nathaniel  W. 
Taylor,  of  New  Haven ;  Albert  Barnes,  of  Philadel 
phia  ;  Dr.  N.  S.  S.  Beman,  of  Troy ;  and  Charles  G. 
Finney.  Mr.  Beman  was  the  debater  of  his  faction. 
The  leader  of  the  (11- School  side  was  Dr.  Ashbel 
Green,  President  of  Princeton  College.  The  combat 
ants  fought  just  like  the  world's  people,  and  kept  the 
Church  in  turmoil  for  years.  Dr.  Beman  was  often 
sarcastic.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  fly-leaf 
of  the  old  catechism  were  poetic  couplets,  arranged 
under  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  and  set  to  horrible 
rhymes.  The  one  under  A  read : 

"  In  Adam's  fall, 
We  sinned  all." 

Dr.  Beman  used  to  repeat  this,  and  then  add  to  it : 

"  In  Adam's  fall, 
We  sinned  all; 
In  Cain's  murder 
We  sinned  furder; 
By  Doctor  Green, 
Our  sin  is  seen." 

I  could  give  many  anecdotes  illustrating  the  pecul 
iar  characteristics  of  Dr.  Beecher ;  but  I  forbear  ex 
cept  to  tell  one,  to  show  his  chronic  absent-minded 
ness.  He  preached  in  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church, 
the  aristocratic,  rich  church  of  Cincinnati.  He  was 


46  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 


always  doing  some  odd  thing.  One  Sunday  he  came 
in  late ;  the  house  was  packed ;  he  walked  rapidly  up 
the  aisle  with  a  roll  of  blotted  manuscript  in  his  hand ; 
ascended  the  pulpit;  opened  the  Bible;  spread  his 
manuscript,  took  his  text,  and  was  about  to  begin  his 
sermon  without  any  preliminary  exercises.  One  of 
the  elders  rose  from  his  pew,  and  stood.  The  elder 
looked  at  the  doctor ;  the  doctor  looked  at  the  elder. 
The  elder  came  out  of  his  pew,  the  doctor  came  down 
the  stairs,  and  they  met.  The  elder  whispered  a  few 
words  in  the  doctor's  ear,  the  doctor  reascended, 
closed  his  Bible,  and  said,  "  Let  us  pray."  This  was 
a  specimen  of  many  such  performances.  I  don't  know 
of  any  better  way  of  accounting  for  it  than  to  tell 
what  the  doctor  said  to  us  at  the  seminary  when  giv 
ing  a  lecture  on  oratory.  "  Young  gentlemen,"  said 
he,  "  don't  stand  before  a  looking-glass  and  make  ges 
tures.  Pump  yourselves  brimful  of  your  subject  till 
you  can't  hold  another  drop,  and  then  knock  out  the 
bung  and  let  nature  caper."  In  the  instance  of  the 
sermon  the  doctor  had  pumped  himself  full  in  his 
library,  and  when  he  reached  the  church  was  too 
eager  to  knock  out  the  bung. 

In  the  summer  of  1832, 1  was  passing  through  the 
hall  of  the  seminary,  and  saw  on  the  bulletin-board 
of  my  club  that  the  question  for  debate  that  evening- 
was  this  :  "  If  the  slaves  of  the  South  were  to  rise  in 
insurrection,  would  it  be  the  duty  of  the  North  to  aid 
in  putting  it  down?"  I  glanced  at  the  board,  and 
never  dreamed  there  would  be  more  than  one  side  to 
the  question,  and  that  in  the  negative.  When  the  hot 
evening  came,  to  my  surprise  everybody  arranged 


FIRST   ANTI-SLAVERY    SPEECH.  4  < 

themselves  in  the  affirmative  part  of  the  room  except 
myself.  As  it  afterwards  came  to  pass  that  this  was 
the  beginning  of  my  life-work,  and  lent  color  to  my 
whole  future  existence,  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  a  few 
personal  details.  This  was  in  the  midst  of  the  South 
ampton  insurrection  in  Virginia,  when  .Nat  Turner,  a 
deluded  negro,  had  raised  an  insurrection  which  made 
the  cheek  of  the  ancient  dominion  turn  pale  and  its 
knees  smite  together  in  terror.  As  the  only  person 
on  my  side  of  the  pending  debate,  I  had  the  privilege 
of  waiting  till  all  my  opponents  were  through  before 
I  spoke.  I  first  divested  myself  of  my  cravat,  then 
of  my  coat,  then  of  my  vest.  As  the  debate  went  on, 
and  the  perspiration  started  from  me  in  unwonted 
streams,  I  repaired  to  my  room,  took  off  my  boots, 
put  on  my  slippers,  and  returned  to  the  club.  When 
I  arose  to  speak,  I  might  be  regarded  as  standing  in 
the  regular  ball  costume  in  Arkansas,  viz.,  a  shirt  col 
lar  and  a  pair  of  spurs ;  but  I  never  spoke  with  more 
fervor  and  satisfaction  for  three  quarters  of  an  hour 
than  on  that  occasion.  This  was  my  first  anti-slavery 
speech.  For  nearly  forty  years  I  "  fought  it  out  on 
that  line,"  till  I  saw  the  Thirteenth,  Fourteenth,  and 
Fifteenth  Amendments  incorporated  into  the  Consti 
tution,  and  Horace  Greeley  the  regular  Democratic 
candidate  for  president,  when  I  was  ready  to  say  with 
one  of  old,  "  Now  lettest  Thou  thy  servant  depart  in 
peace,  .  .  .  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation." 

In  1834:  I  went  to  Danville,  Ky.,  to  obtain  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Birney,  giving  his  reasons  for  joining  the 
Anti-slavery  Society.  It  was  a  remarkably  able  doc 
ument,  and  had  a  large  circulation,  He  had  been  a 


48  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

slaveholder,  belonged  to  one  of  the  first  Kentucky 
families,  and  was  a  profound  lawyer.  He  was  cor 
responding  secretary,  with  Elizur  "Wright  and  me, 
of  the  American  Anti-slavery  Society.  I  will  disre 
gard  the  chronological  order  of  events  by  adding  that, 
in  the  London  Convention  of  1840,  he,  by  his  solid  and 
varied  attainments,  rich  fund  of  information,  courtesy, 
candor,  and  fine  debating  powers,  inspired  confidence  in 
his  statements  and  reflected  credit  upon  his  country. 
He  was  a  wise  and  patriotic  man.  The  Liberty  party 
honored  itself  by  making  him  its  first  candidate  for 
the  presidency.  His  son,  David  B.  Birney,  sacrificed 
a  lucrative  law-practice  in  Philadelphia  to  become  a 
defender  of  liberty  and  the  constitution  on  the  battle 
field.  While  commanding  a  corps  in  front  of  Rich 
mond,  in  1864,  he  was  stricken  with  fever  and  took  to 
his  couch  at  home,  where  he  became  delirious.  One 
night,  his  cheeks  all  ablaze,  he  suddenly  sprang  up  in 
the  bed  and  shouted,  in  tones  that  made  the  house 
ring,  "  Boys !  keep  }Tour  eye  on  that  flag !"  and  fell 
back  dead. 

I  attended  the  anniversary  of  the  American  Anti- 
slavery  Society  in  New  York  in  1834,  and  there  en 
countered  the  first  of  my  two  hundred  mobs.  We 
had  a  great  Anti-slavery  debate  at  Lane  Seminary, 
and  formed  a  society  during  that  fall.  Pro-slavery 
trustees  required  that  we  should  dissolve  it.  We  re 
fused  to  do  so.  They  then  passed  arbitrary  rules  in 
respect  to  discussion,  and  even  conversation,  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  at  the  seminary.  A  goodly  por 
tion  of  us,  who  were  not  to  be  thus  throttled,  left.  It 
was  a  heavy  blow  to  the  seminary,  which  hardly  re- 


JOHN    QU1NCY    ADAMS. PETEK    PARLEY.  49 

gained  its  feet  for  the  next  six  years.  I  was  on  the 
committee  that  issued  an  address  in  vindication  of  our 
course.  Tt  produced  a  deep  impression.  In  the  early 
spring  of  1835  Mr.  Birney  and  myself  went  east  on 
an  Anti-slavery  mission.  We  spoke  at  Philadelphia 
and  JS~ew  York.  I  then  held  meetings  at  Providence, 
E.  I.,  Boston,  Mass.,  and  Concord,  N.  II.,  intending  to 
return  west  and  pursue  my  studies.  On  reaching  New 
York  I  received  a  commission  as  general  agent  of  the 
American  Anti-slavery  Society.  I  immediately  en 
tered  upon  the  work  which  occupied  so  large  a  share 
of  my  life. 

When  I  entered  this  field  slavery  had  the  State  and 
Church  by  the  throat ;  and  though  the  Abolitionists 
advocated  peaceful  measures  for  the  emancipation  of 
the  bondmen,  they  were  everywhere  at  the  mercy  cf 
mobs.  For  the  dozen  years  following  the  fall  of  1834 
I  was  engaged  in  this  conflict.  I  was  several  years 
on  the  executive  committee  and  secretary  of  the  Amer 
ican  Anti-slavery  Society,  and  as  such  I  addressed 
millions  of  men  and  women  in  every  northern  state, 
from  Indiana  to  Maine,  and  in  Kentucky,  Maryland, 
and  Delaware,  and  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and 
France.  I  appeared  before  ten  legislative  commit 
tees  in  seven  states,  and  addressed  the  first  committee 
of  that  kind  in  the  country — that  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Massachusetts,  in  February,  1837,  in  sup 
port  of  John  Quincy  Adams's  heroic  struggle  in  Con 
gress.  The  Hon.  S.  G.  Goodrich — better  known  as 
Peter  Parley — was  a  member  of  that  committee.  I 
spoke  for  two  days  in  the  Hall  of  Eepresentatives  in 
Boston ;  and  at  the  close  joint  resolutions  were  passed 
3 


50  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

by  the  legislature  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  John  Quincy  Ad 
ams's  course  in  Congress  was  approved.  Three  hun 
dred  thousand  copies  of  my  speech  on  that  occasion 
were  distributed. 

The  early  Anti-slavery  men  doubtless  made  hard 
hits.  But,  in  the  language  of  Webster  in  his  reply 
to  Ilayne,  we  recognized  the  fact  that  there  were 
blows  to  take  as  well  as  blows  to  give.  Indeed,  it 
was  my  habit  to  covet  questioning  while  on  the  plat 
form,  and  to  invite  replies  when  I  was  through.  And 
what  was  the  usual  response — mobs.  Yice-president 
Wilson,  in  the  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,'-  is 
my  authority  for  saying  that  I  was  mobbed  at  least  two 
hundred  times.  I  always  spoke  strongly  in  favor  of 
the  Constitution,  the  Union,  and  the  Church;  and 
yet,  in  ten  free  states,  through  a  series  of  years,  I  ad 
vocated  the  claims  of  the  slaves  to  their  liberty  at  the 
hazard  of  my  life.  I  have  a  right  to  say  this,  because, 
in  this  turbulent  epoch,  I  was  voluntarily  pleading  for 
a  humble  race  which,  by  no  possibility,  could  reward 
me,  or  ever  hear  of  my  existence. 

In  1835  I  went  into  the  town  of  East  Greenwich, 
R.  I.,  and  was  the  guest  of  Judge  Brown,  a  gentle 
man  of  high  standing.  My  Anti-slavery  meeting  was 
advertised.  A  constable  arrived  at  Judge  Brown's, 
and  I  was  served  with  a  warrant  warning  me  out  of 
town  as  a  vagrant  without  visible  means  of  support, 
and  therefore  liable  to  become  a  town  charge.  Judge 
Brown  gave  bail  for  me,  and  I  held  the  meeting,  and 
invited  the  constable  to  hear  me.  In  those  days  it 
was  the  practice  to  get  signatures  to  the  Anti-slavery 


THE   MOB   EPOCH    OF    1835.  51 

roll.  The  first  name  signed  was  that  of  the  consta 
ble  who  had  served  the  warrant.  I  viewed  the  capt 
ure  of  that  constable  as  a  great  achievement. 

We  resorted  to  odd  expedients  to  get  in  Anti-sla 
very  speeches.  The  temperance  cause  was  popular. 
In  1835,  in  Rhode  Island,  I  agreed 'to  address  an  audi 
ence  an  hour  and  a  half  on  temperance  if  they  would 
then  let  me  speak  an  hour  and  a  half  on  slavery.  On 
the  next  Sabbath  the  compact  was  faithfully  fulfilled 
on  both  sides,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  concourse. 

The  year  1835  was  an  epoch  of  mobs.  In  the  fore 
noon  of  October  21,  1835,  a  large  convention  met  at 
Utica  to  form  a  State  Anti-slavery  Society.  Judge 
Henry  BrewTster,  of  Monroe  County,  my  uncle,  pre 
sided.  Leaders  like  Lewis  Tappan,  Alvan  Stewart, 
Beriah  Green,  and  Gerrit  Smith  were  present.  A 
mob,  headed  by  the  Utica  member  of  Congress,  and 
afterwards  chief -justice  of  the  state,  entered  the 
church  where  the  convention  was  sitting,  and  dis 
persed  it  by  violence.  To  avoid  mistakes,  I  will  add 
that  this  man's  name  was  Samuel  Beardsley.  IS^o 
bodily  harm  was  done  to  any  one  in  particular,  ex 
cept  the  tearing  of  a  few  garments  and  the  shaking 
of  cowardly  canes  over  the  heads  of  some  aged  Abo 
litionists. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  the  Boston  Fe 
male  Anti-slavery  Society,  in  which  Mary  S.  Parker 
and  Maria  W.  Chapman  were  conspicuous  members, 
held  a  meeting.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  pres 
ent.  A  violent  mob,  which  some  of  the  Boston 
newspapers  called  an  assemblage  of  "gentlemen  of 
property  and  standing,'1  compelled  the  ladies  to  aban- 


52  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

don  the  hall  wherein  their  society  was  sitting.  They 
pursued  Mr.  Garrison  into  an  adjoining  building, 
where  he  had  retired  to  avoid  these  peculiar  "  gen 
tlemen."  They  seized  him,  put  a  rope  around  his 
body,  and  led  him  through  the  streets.  Pretty  much 
all  that  was  really  accomplished  by  these  "  respecta 
ble  "  rioters  may  be  summed  up  by  saying  that  they 
thoroughly  frightened  the  women  and  covered  them 
selves  with  infamy. 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  I  was  honored  with 
a  little  mob  while  addressing  a  small  meeting  at  New 
port,  R.  I.  The  Anti-slavery  advocates  in  that  town 
were  "a  feeble  folk."  The  mob  was  of  respectable 
size  in  comparison  with  the  dimensions  of  the  assem 
bly.  It  was  led  by  an  ex-lieutenant  or  midshipman 
of  the  navy.  They  stoned  the  building,  smashed  the 
windows,  and  drove  us  into  the  street. 

Soon  afterwards  I  met  Lewis  Tappan.  He  face 
tiously  said  that  he  had  ascertained  the  distance  from 
Utica  to  Boston,  and  thence  to 'Newport,  and  the  pre 
cise  time  when  the  mobs  broke  out,  so  as  to  see  how 
many  miles  an  hour  the  devil  had  to  travel  to  take 
charge  of  all  three  of  them. 

In  1836  I  was  outrageously  treated  while  attempt 
ing  to  speak  to  a  meeting  in  a  Methodist  church  at 
Providence.  The  mills  of  the  gods  ground  slowly, 
but  they  did  not  stop.  I  addressed  an  immense  Fre 
mont  out-door  meeting  at  Providence  in  1856.  In 
respect  to  slavery,  I  dealt  with  it  far  more  severely 
than  in  1836.  There  were  plenty  of  governors  on  the 
platform,  and  Bishop  Thomas  M.  Clark,  of  that  dio 
cese,  was  at  my  right  hand.  A  man  on  the  platform, 


I'KOVIDENCE. PHILADELPHIA. PORTLAND.  53 

bedecked  with  orders,  was  chief  marshal.  His  enthu 
siasm,  in  repeatedly  calling  for  cheers,  bothered  me 
while  speaking.  After  I  had  finished  I  asked  who 
that  chief  marshal  was,  and  the  bishop  said,  "Don't 
you  remember  that,  in  1836,  when  you  were  deliver 
ing  an  Anti- slavery  address  in  the  Methodist  church 
here,  a  mob  came  rushing  up  the  aisles,  shaking  their 
fists  at  you  and  yelling,  and  finally  broke  up  the 
meeting  ?  Well,  he  was  the  leader  of  that  mob,  and 
now  he  is  making  amends." 

The  respectable  individuals  who  encouraged  these 
crimes  against  society  had  no  regard  for  the  kind  of 
edifices  their  vulgar  tools  assailed.  I  delivered  one 
evening  an  address  in  a  beautiful  little  church  in  Liv 
ingston  countv,  IN".  Y.  I  cannot  now  recall  the  name 

O  i/  ' 

of  the  town  where  I  spoke.  The  next  morning  the 
building  was  a  heap  of  ashes.  Pro-slavery  incendia 
ries  had  set  it  on  fire  during  the  night. 

This  calls  to  mind  the  burning  of  Pennsylvania 
Hall,  in  Philadelphia,  a  large,  costly  structure,  erect 
ed  by  the  friends  of  free  speech.  It  Avas  dedicated  in 
May,  1838,  with  imposing  ceremonies,  wherein  I  bore 
a  humble  part.  The  principal  oration  was  by  Alvan 
Stewart.  "Whittier  contributed  a  noble  poem.  On 
May  21  the  women  were  holding  an  Anti -slavery 
meeting  in  the  hall,  when  a  brutal  mob,  which  some 
newspapers  called  indignant  citizens,  burned  it  down. 
For  many  years  the  charred  ruins  frowned  on  the  city 
founded  by  William  Penn,  and  which  witnessed  the 
birth  of  American  independence. 

In  Portland,  in  1838,  an  Anti-slavery  convention  sat 
for  four  days  in  the  old  Quaker  meeting-house.  Gen- 


54  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

eral  Samuel  Fessenden,  the  leading  member  of  the  bar 
of  Maine,  presided,  but  not  all  his  influence  could  de 
ter  the  mob.  The  meeting-house  was  utterly  riddled. 
At  length  the  best  men  of  Portland  said,  "  This  won't 
do."  The  poet  John  Neal  organized  about  a  hun 
dred  special  constables,  and,  leading  them  himself,  put 
the  mob  down.  Years  afterwards,  meeting  General 
Fessenden' s  son,  Senator  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  in 
Washington  city,  I  eulogized  his  father's  steady  cour 
age  in  1838.  He  asked,  "  Do  you  recollect  that  on 
one  of  those  evenings  a  young  man  took  your  arm  as 
you  walked  out  of  the  meeting  to  go  through  the  out 
side  mob,  and  said,  *  I  will  accompany  you  to  your 
lodgings,  and  share  the  peril  with  you  T'  I  told  him 
I  well  recollected  it,  and  had  often  wished  I  knew 
who  the  young  gentleman  was.  "  I  am  that  person," 
said  the  senator. 

To  close  the  subject  of  mobs,  and  make  room  for 
other  matters,  I  will  refer,  quite  out  of  the  order  of 
time,  to  one  that  occurred  in  my  native  county  when 
I  was  practising  law  at  Boston.  In  1845,  I  went  to 
Norwich  to  deliver  an  Anti-slavery  address  in  the 
town-hall.  The  hall  was  stoned,  and  all  the  windows 
broken,  and  we  adjourned  until  evening.  In  the  in 
termission,  three-inch  planks  were  spiked  on  the  in 
side  of  the  window  near  which  I  had  to  stand,  to 
shield  me  from  the  missiles  of  the  mob.  In  that 
same  town-hall  I  addressed  a  crowded  meeting  in  the 
Fremont  canvass — a  meeting  presided  over  by  Will 
iam  A.  Buckingham,  subsequently  governor  and  sen 
ator — and  I  was  introduced  to  the  audience  by  Gov 
ernor  Chauncey  F.  Cleveland.  I  remembered  the  mob, 


NORWICH. VERMONT.  55 

and  freed  my  mind  for  two  hours.  A  throng  came 
over  from  Griswold  and  Preston,  and  I  received  en 
thusiastic  plaudits  instead  of  whizzing  brickbats. 

In  remote  days  it  was  fashionable  for  everybody  to 
read  the  Waverley  novels.  An  English  gentleman, 
who  had  long  been  in  foreign  countries,  returned 
home.  Wherever  he  went,  he  was  pointed  out  as  the 
man  who  had  not  read  the  Waverley  novels.  He 
liked  the  distinction  so  well  that  he  resolutely  ab 
stained  from  those  fascinating  volumes.  By  a  queer 
sort  of  analogy,  this  reminds  me  of  the  course  of  Ver 
mont  during  the  mob  period,  where  I  delivered  from 
time  to  time  some  Anti-slavery  addresses.  I  was 
mobbed  in  every  state  from  Indiana  to  Maine,  except 
Vermont.  I  never  heard  of  an  Anti-slavery  mob  with 
in  its  borders.  The  land  of  Stark  abstained  from  that 
fascinating  recreation. 

I  shall  say  no  more  about  mobs,  though  I  "  assist 
ed  "  at  a  few  after  the  one  in  Norwich. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

John  O.  Whit  tier  and  the  Author  Visit  Gettysburg  for  Anti- 
slavery  Lecturers. — Whittier's  Services  to  Liberty. — Caleb  dish 
ing  a  Candidate  for  Congress  in  18138.—  Whit  tier  (Jets  u  Letter 
tliat  Averts  Cushing's  Defeat.— Origin  of  the  Republican  Parly. 
— Peculiar  Honors  paid  to  John  Quiney  Adams  in  1837.— 
Author  at  Washington  in  1838. — Adams  and  the  Right  of  Peti 
tion. —  Speaker  Polk. — Lalimer's  Case.  —  The  Ree4  on  Mr. 
Adams's  Desk.— Vice-President  Dick  Johnson  Compared  with 
Van  IJuren  as  a  Presiding  Officer.— The  Lions  in  the  Senate  in 
1838. — Foreshadowing  the  Methods  for  Overthrowing  Slavery. 
—The  Author's  Early  Newspaper  Productions.— Sylvester  Gra 
ham,  the  Dietetic  Reformer;  his  System. 

AVisniNu  to  enlarge  its  lecturing  corps,  the  Anti- 
slavery  Society  deputed  me,  in  18IW,  to  go  through  the 
country  and  employ  seventy  public  speakers.  I  trav 
elled  far  on  this  errand,  paying  special  attention  to 
colleges,  theological  schools,  and  young  lawyers.  1 
visited  Gettysburg  on  my  tour.  I  was  at  the  Luther 
an  Theological  Institution  on  Seminary  Ridge,  which 
loomed  high  above  the  village  on  the  west.  The  view 
was  beautiful.  It  swept  over  Cemetery  Ridge, Gulps 
Hill,  and  the  Round  Top,  lying  easterly  of  the  town. 
The  intervening  fields  smiled  with  fruit  trees  and 
waving  grain.  Little  dreamed  I  then  that  twenty- 
seven  years  later  these  landmarks  would  win  world 
wide  celebrity  by  listening  to  the  roar  of  one  of  the 
bloodiest  battles  of  modern  times,  waged  to  defend 
and  destroy  the  cause  I  was  there  to  promote. 


WHITTIEE. CALEB    CUSHIXG.  57 

John  G.  Whit  tier  accompanied  me  during  a  portion 
of  this  tour  in  search  of  lecturers,  cheering  me  with 
his  Denial  presence  and  wise  counsel. 

1  am  not  so  beside  myself  as  to  imagine  that  any 
encomium  from  me  could  add  to  Whittier's  literary 
fame.  But  having  toiled  by  his  side  for  several  years, 
and  spent  many  a  delightful  hour  in  his  cottage  at 
Amesburv,  it  may  become  me  to  record  that  he  ren 
dered  valuable  aid  to  the  Anti-slavery  cause  by  his 
brave  example,  while  his  pen  sent  ringing  words  of 
encouragement  and  shed  unfading  lustre  over  the  Held 
where  the  battle  raged. 

After  the  expiration  of  a  week  or  two  the  picked 
men  whom  we  had  selected  assembled  in  New  York, 
and  were  instructed  in  the  usual  Anti-slavery  argu 
ments  by  a  series  of  discourses  in  which  Theodore  D. 
Weld  took  a  prominent  part.  Thus  equipped,  they 
reaped  where  the  harvest  was  abundant  and  the  la 
borers  few. 

In  1838  the  Abolitionists  began  to  put  test  ques 
tions  to  candidates  for  Congress,  and  then  cast  their 
votes  for  or  against  them  as  their  answers  were  satis 
factory  or  otherwise.  Caleb  dishing  was  one  of  those 
who  replied  unsatisfactorily.  We  held  a  convention 
at  Salem,  Mass.,  to  take  measures  to  defeat  him.  I 
handled  him  severely  in  a  speech  in  a  church  in  the 
evening.  I  was  not  then  aware  that  he  was  a  listen 
er  in  a  dark  corner  of  the  gallery.  Mr.  Whittier,  a 
friend  of  dishing,  visited  him  early  the  next  morn 
ing  at  his  hotel,  and  told  him  that  he  must  instantly 
write  another  letter  to  appease  the  Abolition  conven 
tion,  which  was  about  to  adjourn,  or  he  would  be 
3* 


58  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

ruined  at  the  polls.  His  night  robe  was  very  thin, 
and  the  chair  was  very  cold.  But  the  epistle  was 
penned,  and  the  writer  was  re-elected.  Caleb  Gush 
ing  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  talents,  but  an  un 
scrupulous  politician.  The  exposure  of  his  duplicity 
in  regard  to  Secession  finally  brought  him  to  grief 
when  he  was  nominated  for  Chief-justice  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court. 

The  Republican  party  grew  out  of  this  practice  of 
putting  questions  to  candidates.  This  plan  proving 
to  be  unsatisfactory,  the  Liberty  party  was  organized 
in  the  spring  of  1840,  with  James  G.  Birney  as  its 
presidential  nominee.  This  ripened  into  the  Free- 
soil  party  of  1848,  when  Martin  Yan  Buren  led  its  at 
tack  on  the  slavery  propagandists.  This  ultimately 
widened  into  the  Republican  party  of  1855-56. 

John  Quincy  Adams  received  extraordinary  hon 
ors  in  the  year  1837.  He  encountered  unusual  abuse 
in  the  early  weeks  of  the  session  of  Congress  in  that 
year,  because  of  his  fearless  defence  of  the  right  of 
petition.  He  was  threatened  with  expulsion  from  the 
House,  and  assassination  on  its  floor.  But  there  came 
a  recoil  of  the  wave.  I  have  already  stated  that  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature,  in  February,  1837,  by  the 
unanimous  vote  of  both  Houses,  approved  his  course 
at  "Washington. 

I  participated  in  a  scene  at  Quincy,  in  the  follow 
ing  summer,  which  showed  the  reverential  regard  felt 
for  him  by  his  constituents.  A  great  throng  of  gen 
tlemen  of  both  political  parties  met  in  the  town-hall 
of  the  ancient  home  of  the  Adamses,  to  present  him 
with  a  cane  made  of  the  wood  of  the  dismantled  fri^- 


EXTRAORDINARY  HONORS  TO  ADAMS.        59 

ate  Constitution,  that  had  won  fame  in  the  Avar  of 
1812-15,  by  capturing  the  British  frigates  Guerriere 
and  Java.  The  sage  delivered  a  characteristic  speech 
on  receiving  this  historic  memorial.  Near  the  close 
of  his  address  his  hand  and  voice  quivered  with  emo 
tion  as  he  illustrated  his  own  position  by  relating  a 
story  of  a  scarred  Russian  soldier  who  was  ushered 
into  the  presence  of  the  emperor,  and  received  a  medal 
for  an  extraordinary  feat  of  valor  in  a  recent  battle. 
Suddenly  mounting  the  top  step  of  the  rostrum  in  the 
hall,  Mr.  Adams  exclaimed,  in  shrill  tones,  "  The  old 
soldier  shook  from  head  to  foot  as  he  took  the  medal, 
and  was  only  able  to  stammer  out  his  thanks  by  say 
ing,  <  Though  I  tremble  in  the  presence  of  your  maj 
esty,  I  never  trembled  in  the  presence  of  your  majes 
ty's  enemies.' ':  The  hit  was  so  happy  that  I  thought 
the  cheers  would  bring  the  roof  down. 

I  witnessed  the  crowning  honor  bestowed  upon  the 
veteran  in  this  memorable  year.  He  was  then  under 
the  ban  of  the  pro-slavery  party  of  the  country.  Nev 
ertheless,  the  elite  of  the  commercial  metropolis  in 
vited  him  to  deliver  the  semi-centennial  address  com 
memorating  the  formation  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 
In  September  he  pronounced  an  appropriate  and  in 
structive  oration  before  a  learned  and  brilliant  assem 
bly  that  filled  to  repletion  the  Middle  Dutch  Church, 
then  the  largest  audience-room  in  the  City  of  New 
York. 

The  services  of  Mr.  Adams  during  his  seventeen 
years  in  Congress  eclipsed  his  previous  civil  career, 
long,  varied,  and  lustrous  though  it  had  been.  He 
became  the  ablest  and  most  dreaded  debater  in  a  leg- 


60  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS.     . 

islative  hall  that  displayed  rare  oratorical  talents.  In 
many  close,  protracted,  and  almost  savage  collisions 
with  trained,  bold,  and  bitter  antagonists,  like  Wise, 
Rhett,  Marshall,  and  their  coadjutors,  he  showed  his 
superiority  in  learning,  courage,  sarcasm,  and  every 
element  of  dialectic  skill  in  one  of  the  famous  delib 
erative  bodies  of  the  world. 

I  went  to  Washington,  in  1838,  to  look  after  the 
imperilled  right  of  petition.  Mr.  Adams,  who  was 
fighting  our  battle  in  Congress,  received  me  with 
marked  courtesy,  partly,  perhaps,  because  I  had  de 
fended  him  so  warmly  in  my  speech  before  the  com 
mittee  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature.  I  saw  him 
on  a  field-day  in  the  House.  He  coolly  presented  his 
pile  of  Anti-slavery  petitions  one  by  one,  and  scari 
fied  the  Southern  members  who  interrupted  him.  Mr. 
Polk,  the  speaker,  was  annoyed,  but  could  not  help 
himself.  Indeed,  he  was  evidently  afraid  of  Mr.  Ad 
ams,  the  old  man  eloquent.  In  youth  he  had  ex 
hibited  the  wisdom  of  age  ;  in  age  he  was  displaying 
the  vigor  of  youth. 

At  a  later  day  I  witnessed  the  spectacle  when  Mr. 
Adams  presented  the  petition  in  the  famous  Latimer 
case,  the  fugitive  slave  that  sought  shelter  in  Boston, 
and  whose  beleaguered  master  was  finally  persuaded, 
by  stress  of  circumstances  and  a  few  dollars,  to  aban 
don  the  attempt  to  recover  his  human  chattel.  The 
petition  was  of  such  an  immense  length  that,  for  con 
venient  handling,  it  was  wound  on  a  great  reel,  which, 
on  the  morning  of  presentation,  stood  on  Mr.  Adams's 
desk  in  the  House.  This  unique  object  was  the  ob 
served  of  all  observers  in  the  hall,  which  was  crowd- 


EMINENT    SENATORS    IN    1838.  61 

ed  to  repletion,  as  the  old  patriot  shook  its  rustling 
folds  in  the  face  of  the  frowning  speaker. 

A  word  about  speakers  of  the  House.  I  have  seen 
nine  in  the  chair.  As  presiding  officers  I  think  Mr. 
Banks  was  the  best  and  Mr.  Pennington  the  worst. 

While  at  Washington,  in  1838,  I  spent  a  few  hours 
in  the  Senate.  The  lions  were  there — Clay,  Webster, 
Calhoun,  Wright,  and  Benton.  I  had  previously  heard 
Mr.  Clay  on  a  platform  in  New  York,  Mr.  Webster 
before  a  jury  in  Boston,  and  Mr.  Wright  in  the  New 
York  Senate.  I  now  listened  to  a  ten-minute  speech 
each  from  Mr.  Benton  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  had  to 
be  therewith  content.  Yice-president  Richard  M. 
Johnson  was  in  the  chair.  He  was  shabbily  dressed, 
and  to  the  last  degree  clumsy.  What  a  contrast  be 
tween  him  and  Martin  Yan  Buren,  his  urbane,  ele 
gant  predecessor.  Colonel  Johnson  owed  his  promo 
tion  largely  to  two  acts,  neither  of  which  he  per 
formed.  He  was  as  guiltless  of  the  killing  of  Tecum- 
seh  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  in  the  war  of  1812, 
as  was  William  Tecumseh  Sherman,  and  he  did  not 
write  a  line  of  the  famous  Sunday-mail  report. 

In  1838  I  made  a  speech  before  the  American  Anti- 
slavery  Society,  wherein  I  predicted  that  slavery 
would  ultimately  fall  by  means  of  an  amendment  of 
the  Constitution,  and  that  this  would  result  from  the 
preponderance  of  free  states  in  the  West.  My  pre 
diction  came  to  pass  nearly  thirty  years  afterwards. 
The  speech  is  on  record. 

From  1832  onward  I  wrote  much  for  the  Anti- 
slavery  press,  and  for  such  religious  and  political 
newspapers  as  would  give  us  a  hearing.  My  contri- 


62  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

btitions  would  fill  volumes,  for  which,  as  a  general 
rule,  I  received  no  pay. 

In  1839  I  contributed  a  series  of  articles  to  the  New 
York  American,  conducted  by  Charles  King,  subse 
quently  President  of  Columbia  College.  The  title  of 
the  series  was  "  Glances  at  Men  and  Things."  The 
signature  was  "  Rambler."  The  topics  were  miscella 
neous.  Some  of  the  numbers  were  widely  copied. 
The  author  was  not  then  known. 

Dr.  Sylvester  Graham  was  one  of  the  early  Anti- 
slavery  men,  but  will  be  longest  remembered  as  the 
most  radical  dietetic  reformer  in  the  country.  He 
began  to  be  generally  known  in  New  England  and 
New  York  about  the  year  1830,  and  elicited  attention 
in  rather  a  narrow  circle  as  a  writer  and  lecturer  for 
twenty  years.  He  was  well  educated,  and,  though 
ultra  in  his  opinions  on  food  and  regimen,  was  a  log 
ical  and  eloquent  speaker.  The  salient  feature  of  his 
system  was  a  rigid  adherence  to  a  vegetable  diet ;  or, 
rather,  entire  abstinence  from  meat,  fish,  and  oleag 
inous  substances  of  whatever  kind,  butter  included. 
He  waged  exterminating  war  not  only  on  intoxicating 
drinks,  but  on  coffee,  tea,  pepper,  and  stimulating  con 
diments  of  every  description.  Like  all  reformers,  he 
overshot  the  true  mark,  but  we  are  indebted  to  him 
for  many  improvements  in  the  field  he  assiduously 
cultivated.  Those  that  drink  chocolate  or  milk,  or 
only  water,  at  their  meals,  and  eat  oatmeal  or  cracked 
wheat  at  breakfast,  and  prefer  bread  made  of  unbolt 
ed  flour,  and  cut  short  their  fat  meats  and  crisp  pastry, 
and  substitute  therefor  ripe  vegetables  and  fruits, 
and  believe  in  fresh  air,  frequent  baths,  and  long 


DOCTOR    SYLVESTER   GRAHAM.  63 

walks,  should  remember  their  patron  saint,  Sylvester 
Graham. 

There  was  a  dash  of  amusing  egotism  in  Graham. 
One  day  he  had  partaken  very  freely  of  cucumbers, 
green  corn,  and  watermelon  (as  substitutes  for  the  sa 
vory  meats  on  the  table)  at  the  house  of  a  friend. 
The  mixture  was  too  much  for  an  internal  organism 
enervated  by  close  application  to  study  in  the  previ 
ous  three  months.  While  expounding  his  dietetic 
system  to  the  dinner-party  with  his  usual  fervor,  he 
was  seized  with  intense  pains  in  the  stomach  and  co 
lon,  lie  threw  himself  on  the  carpet,  and,  while  roll 
ing  around  and  writhing  in  agony,  would  now  and 
then  ejaculate,  "  Yes,  gentlemen !  Posterity  will  do 
me  justice!  (Oh,  my  bowels !)  Yes,  gentlemen!  Pos 
terity  will  build  monuments  to  my  memory!  (Oh, 
these  gripes !)  Yes,  gentlemen,  my  system  will  flour 
ish  and  ultimately  spread  through  the  world." 

Among  Graham's  early  disciples  were  William  Cul- 
len  Bryant,  Horace  Greeley,  and  Charles  G.  Finney. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Abolitionists  and  the  Constitution. — Anti-slavery  Leaders:  Garri 
son  and  others  in  Boston;  Tappan  and  others  in  New  York; 
Smith  and  others  in  Central  New  York;  Lovejoy  and  others  in 
the  Western  States. — Celebrated  Women:  Prudence  Crandall; 
Mrs.  Child;  The  Grimkcs;  Mrs.  Mott;  Lucy  Stone;  Harriet 
Bcecher  Stowc;  Elizabeth  Cady  Stan  ton;  Susan  B.  Anthony. — 
Leading  Colored  Men:  Frederick  Douglass;  Robert  Purvis.— 
Eccentricities  of  Abolitionists. — A  Motley  Group  in  Boston. — 
Father  Lampson  and  his  Scythe-snath.— Crazy  George  Wash 
ington  Mellen. — Disturbing  Religious  Meetings.  —  Stephen  S. 
Foster  Imitates  George  Fox. — Charles  C.  Burleigh's  Vile  Gar 
ments  Torn  off  and  Carried  away. — Rev.  Dr.  Chanuing  Eulogizes 
Burleigh's  Orator}'-. — Controversy  between  Garrison  and  Wendell 
Phillips.— Lord  Timothy  Dexter. 

THE  Abolitionists  were  compelled  not  only  to  study 
the  science  of  mobs,  but  also  to  familiarize  themselves 
Avith  the  Federal  Constitution.  That  instrument  had 
no  more  diligent  students  than  those  Avho  conducted 
the  Anti- slavery  argument,  for,  from  the  outset, 
they  were  opposed  on  constitutional  grounds  by  the 
great  leaders  in  State  and  Church.  The  ignorance  of 
its  text  and  spirit  by  persons  well  informed  on  other 
subjects  was  both  amazing  and  amusing.  I  was  rid 
ing  in  a  stage-coach,  in  New  England,  when  slavery 
became  the  topic  of  discussion.  My  antagonist,  opu 
lent  in  flesh  and  pomposity,  was  called  Judge,  and 
had  been  in  the  Legislature.  For  ready  reference, 
the  Anti-slavery  Society  had  caused  to  be  published 


PROMINENT    ANTI-SLAVERY    LEADERS.  (55 

a  copy  of  the  Constitution  so  small  that  it  could  be 
put  in  one's  vest-pocket.  During  the  warm  debate 
the  Judge  purported  to  quote  from  the  Constitution 
something  that  was  not  in  it.  I  pulled  out  the  small 
brochure,  and,  tendering  it  to  him,  said,  quietly,  "  Sir, 
Avill  you  turn  to  the  clause  you  have  cited  ?"  Draw 
ing  himself  up,  he  replied,  with  mingled  dignity  and 
contempt, "  That  little  primer  the  Constitution  ?  Why, 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  as  big  as  a 
family  Bible !" 

In  and  around  Boston  clustered  a  constellation  of 
leaders  in  the  Anti-slavery  cause  whose  central  fig 
ures  were  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Francis  Jackson, 
John  G.  Whittier,  Samuel  J.  May,  John  Pierpont, 
Wendell  Phillips,  and  Amos  A.  Phelps.  Its  equal  in 
importance  appeared  in  and  near  New  York,  whose 
most  conspicuous  members  were  Arthur  Tappan,  Lew 
is  Tappan,  James  G.  Birney,  Elizur  Wright,  William 
Jay,  Joshua  Leavitt,  and  Theodore  D.  Weld.  These 
two  cities  were  the  fountains  whence  arose  currents 
that  flowed  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  country — in 
heavy  volumes  at  the  East  and  North,  in  trickling 
and  fitful  streams  at  the  West  and  South. 

For  many  years  an  influence  in  behalf  of  the  slave 
radiated  from  the  central  counties  of  New  York  which 
was  felt  beyond  the  borders  of  the  state.  It  was  large 
ly  due  to  four  men  quite  unlike  in  salient  characteris 
tics,  though  each  was  remarkable  in  his  sphere.  They 
Avere  acute  reasoners,  ready  writers,  and  never  quailed 
before  mobs.  Those  who  witnessed  the  majestic  elo 
quence  of  Gerrit  Smith,  the  quaint  humor  and  pa 
thetic  appeals  of  Alvan  Stewart,  the  luminous  logic 


GG  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

and  merciless  sarcasm  of  Beriah  Green,  and  the  in 
structive  disquisitions  and  pointed  periods  of  William 
Goodell  will  regard  this  as  a  faint  tribute  to  their 
abilities  and  services. 

The  most  rapid  glance  over  this  locality  could  not 
fail  to  see  Wesley  Bailey,  long  the  able  editor  of  the 
Liberty  Press,  and  subsequently  elected  a  State-Prison 
Inspector.  He  was  the  father  of  E.  Prentiss  Bailey, 
now  the  editor  of  the  Utica  Observer.  In  1838  Rev. 
Mr.  Hawley,  a  Methodist  clergyman,  removed  from 
North  Carolina  to  central  New  York.  Having  wit 
nessed  the  evils  of  slavery,  he  was  of  great  value  to 
the  Emancipation  party.  He  was  the  father  of  Gen 
eral  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  who  served  with  honor  in 
the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and  is  now  the  editor  of  the 
Hartford  Courant  and  Senator  in  Congress  from  Con 
necticut. 

Turning  westwardly,  no  one  beyond  the  Allegha- 
nies  would  overlook  Elijah  Parrish  Lovejoy,  the  Alton 
martyr ;  Cassius  M.  Clay,  the  brave  Kentuckian ; 
Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  and  Gamaliel 
Bailey,  subsequently  editor  of  the  National  Era. 

Emancipation  in  this  country  and  Great  Britain 
owes  much  to  women.  In  1824:  Elizabeth  Hey  rick 
issued  in  England  a  pamphlet  advocating  immediate, 
as  contrasted  with  the  prevailing  doctrine  of  gradual, 
abolition.  It  struck  the  keynote  of  the  contest  which 
resulted  ten  years  later  in  the  overthrow  of  slavery 
in  the  British  West  Indies. 

In  1833  Prudence  Crandall  changed  her  boarding- 
school  for  white  girls  at  Canterbury,  Conn.,  into  a 
school  for  colored  girls.  Miss  Crandall  was  a  semi- 


DISTINGUISHED    WOMEN.  67 

Quaker,  of  benevolent  disposition,  mild  manners,  and 
the  highest  respectability.  I  took  unusual  interest 
in  her  enterprise  (though  far  away  at  Lane  Seminary), 
because  Canterbury  adjoined  the  town  where  I  was 
born.  Immediately  there  commenced  a  persecution 
of  Miss  Crandall  and  her  scholars  that  would  have 
disgraced  barbarians  in  the  dark  ages.  Its  ferocity 
\vas  excelled  only  by  its  meanness.  The  citizens 
dragged  her  school-house  into  a  swamp,  grossly  in 
sulted  the  preceptress,  and  pelted  the  timid  pupils 
with  stones  and  offensive  filth.  Of  course  the  school 
Avas  broken  up.  The  leader  of  Miss  Crandall's  de 
fenders  was  the  eloquent  divine,  Samuel  J.  May,  who 
then  preached  in  Brooklyn,  near  Canterbury.  The 
leader  of  her  infamous  assailants  was  Andrew  T. 
Judson,  afterwards  United  States  District  Judge  for 
Connecticut. 

Lydia  Maria  Child  had  won  distinction  in  literature 
when,  in  1834,  she  issued  her  "Appeal  in  behalf  of 
that  class  of  Americans  called  Africans."  This  ad 
mirable  production,  replete  with  apposite  facts,  graph 
ic  sketches,  and  pathetic  exhortations  for  justice  and 
mercy  to  a  proscribed  race,  at  once  became  the  text 
book  of  the  advocates  of  the  slave. 

Early  in  the  struggle  Angelina  and  Sarah  Grimke, 
cultivated  Avomen  of  Southern  birth,  delivered  Anti- 
slavery  addresses  in  the  Eastern  States  that  elicited 
high  encomiums,  while  the  beautiful  life  of  Lucretia 
Mott,  even  to  its  golden  sunset,  was  adorned  by  her: 
good  works  for  the  negro  race. 

One  of  the  early  Anti-slavery  orators  was  Lucy 
Stone.  She  is  now  the  principal  editor  of  tho  Worn- 


68  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

an? s  Journal,  in  Boston.  Miss  Stone  was  born  in 
West  Brookfield,  in  1818,  was  educated  at  Oberlin 
College,  and  ultimately  became  a  lecturer  in  the  Anti- 
slavery  cause.  She  was  an  eloquent  speaker,  and 
charmed  her  audiences.  One  evening,  in  western 
New  York,  I  took  a  democratic  lawyer  to  hear  her. 
As  we  were  leaving  the  hall  at  the  close  of  the  meet 
ing  my  friend  turned  towards  the  platform  where 
Miss  Stone  was  still  standing  and  said,  in  a  dazed  sort 
of  way :  "  Little  lady,  I  do  not  believe  in  your  doc 
trines,  but  God  made  you  an  orator." 

I  merely  glance  at  Mrs.  Stowe's  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin."  It  gave  the  Anti-slavery  cause  an  impulse 
that  never  subsided  until  the  Thirteenth  Amendment 
was  engrafted  upon  the  Constitution.  One  of  my 
cherished  memories  is  the  occasional  glimpses  I 
caught  at  Walnut  Hills  of  Harriet  Beecher,  ere  she 
was  the  wife  of  my  learned,  witty,  and  rather  sarcas 
tic  teacher,  the  Reverend  Dr.  Calvin  E.  Stowe. 

The  celebrity  in  this  country  and  Europe  of  two 
women  in  another  department  has  thrown  somewhat 
into  the  shade  the  distinguished  service  they  rendered 
to  the  slave  in  the  four  stormy  years  preceding  the 
war  and  in  the  four  years  while  the  sanguinary  con 
flict  was  waged  in  the  field.  I  refer  to  Elizabeth 
Cady  Stanton  and  Susan  B.  Anthony. 

The  negro  himself  was  an  important  element  in 
the  struggle  for  emancipation.  The  representative 
man  of  the  race  in  this  Country,  their  most  eloquent 
orator  and  distinguished  leader  was,  and  is,  Frederick 
Douglass.  Born  in  slavery,  he  was  indebted  for  per 
sonal  freedom  to  his  own  stern  purpose,  clear  eye, 


ULTRA    REFORMERS.  69 

fleet  foot,  and  brave  heart.;  and  he  reached  his  high 
position  among  his  fellow -citizens  mainly  by  his  own 
exertions.  Looking  down  the  long  vista  of  the  past, 
I  recognize  the  fine  presence  of  Eobert  Purvis,  of 
Philadelphia,  a  colored  gentleman  of  rare  excellence, 
who  during  the  third  of  a  century  previous  to  eman 
cipation  was  the  wise  champion  of  his  brethren  in 
bondage. 

As  reformers  in  all  ages,  when  fighting  their  bat 
tles  against  desperate  odds,  have  been  wont  to  be  in 
discriminate  in  their  censures,  so  w^as  it  with  the  early 
Abolitionists  (especially  those  of  the  Boston  type). 
Ultimately  the  Anti-slavery  men  were  divided  into 
two  classes,  known  as  the  Boston  school  and  the  New 
York  school ;  the  former  very  radical,  the  latter 
rather  conservative.  In  a  few  years  the  Bostonian 
platform  broadened  till  it  covered  many  evils  besides 
slavery ;  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  New  York  leaders 
their  brethren  of  the  Tri mountain  City  became  some 
what  loose  in  their  doctrines  and  fanatical  in  their 
operations.  I  pass  no  judgment  upon  the  merits  of 
this  feud. 

I  would  not  disparage  Abolitionists  of  any  type. 
The  ultras  of  the  Bostonian  school  were  charged  with 
fanaticism  in  the  stages  of  the  contest  previous  to 
the  formation  of  the  Kepublican  party.  One  of  the 
last  of  their  conventions  that  I  saw  was  in  Boston 
before  the  war.  There  was  a  representative  array 
on  the  front  seat,  near  the  platform.  First  was  Gar 
rison,  his  countenance  calling  to  mind  the  pictures  of 
the  prophet  Isaiah  in  a  rapt  mood ;  next  was  the  fine 
Roman  head  of  Wendell  Phillips ;  at  his  right  was 


70  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

t  Father  Lampson,  so  called,  a  crazy  loon — his  hair  and 
"  flowing  beard  as  white  as  the  driven  snow.  Lampson 
always  dressed  in  pure  white,  from  head  to  foot,  even 
including  the  shoes.  He  was  the  inventor  of  a  val 
uable  scythe-snath,  and  invariably  carried  a  snath  in 
his  hand.  His  forte  was  selling  his  wares  on  secular 
days  and  disturbing  religious  meetings  on  Sundays. 
.Next  to  Lampson  sat  Edmund  Quincy,  high  born  and 
wealthy,  the  son  of  the  famous  President  Quincy. 
Next  to  Quincy  was  Abigail  Folsom,  another  lunatic, 
with  a  shock  of  unkempt  hair  reaching  down  to  her 
waist.  At  her  right  was  George  W.  Mellen,  clad  in 
the  military  costume  of  the  Revolution,  and  fancying 
himself  to  be  General  Washington,  because  he  was 
named  after  him.  Poor  Mellen  died  in  an  asylum 
for  the  insane.  "Well,  it  is  no  wonder.  The  terrible 
strain  put  upon  the  human  intellect  in  those  old  Anti- 
slavery  days  turned  some  light-headed  persons'  brains. 
I  must  add  that  high  over  these  motley  assemblages 
rose  the  inspiring  strains  of  the  celebrated  Hutchin- 
son  family. 

Parker  Pillsbury,  an  Anti- slavery  leader,  pungent 
on  the  platform  and  in  the  press,  with  a  rich  vein  of 
humor  in  his  composition,  told  me  that  lie  made  a 
stumping  tour  in  New  Hampshire  with  Stephen  S. 
Foster,  and  that  pretty  much  all  his  time  was  con 
sumed  in  getting  Foster  bailed  out  of  jail  for  inter 
fering  in  religious  meetings  in  his  peculiar  style. 
Foster  would  sometimes  advance  up  the  aisle  during 
the  sermon  and  call  the  minister  a  wolf  in  sheep's 
clothing,  whereupon  the  deacons  would  carry  him 
out,  Foster  emerging  from  the  scuffle  minus  one  or 


FANATICS    AND    LUNATICS.  71 

two  of  his  coat-tails.     He  thought  he  was  a  second 
George  Fox. 

Charles  C.  Burleigh,  brother  of  William  IT.,  the 
poet  and  journalist,  was  a  vehement  orator  of  rare 
logical  gifts.  He  traversed  the  country  delivering 
Anti-slavery  lectures.  He  dressed  like  a  tramp.  In 
the  Anti-slavery  office  at  New  York  we  once  tore  a 
shabby  coat  off  his  shoulders,  vowing  that  he  should 
not  represent  the  society  in  such  a  vile  garb.  John  G. 
Whit  tier  took  a  hand  in  this  performance.  At  a  later 
day  we  were  to  celebrate  at  Fall  River,  in  the  month 
of  August,  the  anniversary  of  West  India  Emancipa 
tion.  Burleigh  was  to  be  one  of  the  speakers,  the 
member  of  Congress  for  that  district  was  to  preside, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  William  Ellery  Channing  and  a  dis 
tinguished  company  from  Newport  were  to  attend. 
Burleigh  came  the  day  previous,  wearing  white  duck 
trousers,  that  looked  as  if  they  had  not  dropped  in 
at  a  laundry  during  the  summer,  and  an  out-at-the- 
elbows  coat,  and  other  abominable  garments  to  match. 
We  arranged  with  a  tailor  to  carry  off  Burleigh's 
clothes  in  the  night  while  he  slept,  and  to  leave  a  new 
suit  in  his  bedroom.  The  following  day  Burleigh  ap 
peared  in  fresh  pepper-and-salt  habiliments,  and  de 
livered  a  speech  that  elicited  encomiums  from  Dr. 
Channing. 

During  the  war  and  the  early  stage  of  reconstruc-  I 
tion  Mr.  Garrison  took  a  more  sensible  and  practical  • 
view  of  the  situation  than  Mr.  Phillips  did.     While  a 
million  and  a  half  of  armed  men  were  fighting  on  a 
hundred   battle-fields   about  slavery,  and   especially 
after  the  adoption  of  the  Thirteenth  Constitutional 


72  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Amendment,  Garrison  did  not  see  the  utility  of  keep 
ing  up  the  old  American  Anti-slavery  society.  So 
sharp  was  the  collision  between  these  two  leaders  on 
this  and  cognate  points  that  they  did  not  speak  to 
each  other  for  many  months. 

While  describing  eccentric  men,  mostly  of  Massa 
chusetts,  this  may  be  a  suitable  place  to  dispose  of 
Lord  Timothy  Dexter.  About  fifty  years  ago  I  was 
riding  with  Whittier  in  the  westerly  suburbs  of  New- 
buryport,  when  we  came  upon  the  old  mansion  once 
occupied  by  that  eccentric  shipping  merchant  known 
as  Lord  Timothy  Dexter.  Though  he  had  then  been 
dead  thirty  years,  his  celebrity,  as  one  of  th^  oddest 
of  Yankees,  still  lingered  in  New  England.  The  for 
mer  lordly  dwelling  had,  I  think,  degenerated  into  an 
inn,  but  it  yet  bore  the  Dexter  impress.  A  wide  pi 
azza  ran  along  the  front,  whose  roof  bore  up  life-size 
statues  of  Washington,  Franklin,  Adams,  Hancock, 
and  other  revolutionary  heroes,  arrayed  in  gaudy  and 
fantastic  costumes.  In  his  youth  Dexter  was  very 
poor;  in  later  years  he  became  quite  rich.  In  my 
boyhood  I  heard  many  queer  stories  about  this  strange 
person,  whom  some  called  a  dupe  and  some  a  devil. 
lie  was  about  to  send  a  vessel  to  the  West  Indies,  and 
was  searching  for  freight.  A  practical  joker  advised 
him  to  load  her  with  warming-pans.  He  did,  and 
when  the  cargo  reached  the  tropics,  it  sold  for  an 
enormous  price.  The  sugar-planters  took  off  the  per 
forated  lids  of  the  warming-pans  and  used  them  to 
skim  the  caldrons  where  the  cane  was  boiling,  and 
they  employed  the  pans  themselves,  with  their  long 
handles,  to  ladle  out  the  contents  of  the  caldrons. 


LORD   TIMOTHY  DEXTES.  73 

This  successful  venture  gave  Dexter  his  first  start 
towards  wealth.  This  peculiar  mortal  erected  a  tomb 
in  his  garden,  A  coffin  was  within  the  mausoleum. 
At  fixed  hours  in  the  day  he  would  lie  in  the  coffin, 
when  a  servant  would  knock  at  the  portal  of  the  tomb 
and  say.  ••  Lord  Timothy  Dexter !  Lord  Timothy  Dex 
ter  !  arise  and  come  to  judgment  !"  Dexter  would 
then  get  out  of  the  coffin,  repair  to  the  house,  and 
gravely  eat  his  dinner.  He  published  a  sarcastic  book, 
which  he  entitled. "  A  Pickle  for  the  Knowing  Ones." 
I  have  seen  it.  but  do  not  remember  precisely  its  con 
tents.  The  peculiar  feature  of  the  production  was 
that  from  end  to  end  there  was  not  a  punctuation 
point  of  any  kind :  but  in  an  appendix  he  printed  sev 
eral  pages  made  up  exclusively  of  points  of  every  sort, 
telling  his  readers  to  sift  them  into  the  text  of  the 
book  to  suit  themselves.  But  enough  of  this  eccen 
tric  Lord  Timoth. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Tour  in  Europe  in  1840.— Current  Description  of  Author's  Travels. 
— The  Main  Object  of  the  Tour. — World's  Anti-slavery  Con 
vention  in  London. — Leading  Members. — Distinguished  Women. 
— Haydon's  Large  Painting  of  the  Convention;  his  Anecdote 
of  the  Iron  Duke. — House  of  Peers. — Scotch  Church  Debate. — 
Brougham  Speaks. — Melbourne,  the  Premier. — Lord  Lyndhurst, 
a  Boston-born  Boy. — Wellington  Speaks  on  an  Irish  Question.— 
Earl  Grey  Enters.— The  Reform  Bill  of  1832.— Grey's  Warning 
to  the  Peers  to  Set  their  Houses  in  Order. — Sydney  Smith  and 
Dame  Partington.— Gorgeous  Pageant  at  the  Funeral  of  Earl 
Durham,  Son-in-law  of  Grey,  and  the  Persecuted  Ex-Governor 
of  Canada. 

I  TOOK  ship  for  Europe  on  May  12,  1840.  I  was 
united  in  marriage,  on  May  1,  1840,  with  Elizabeth 
Cady,  of  Johnstown,  !N".  Y.,  daughter  of  Daniel  Cady, 
then  a  leader  of  the  JSTew  York  Bar.  The  main  ob 
ject  of  my  trip  was  to  attend  a  convention  in  London 
for  the  promotion  of  the  Anti-slavery  cause  through 
out  the  world. 

On  June  3, 1840,  we  first  approached  London  from 
the  west,  striking  the  Thames  at  Reading.  To  see 
old  Father  Thames  had  been  my  day-dream  in  life's 
morning  march,  when  my  bosom  was  young.  And 
here  it  dazzled  my  eyes  !  As  we  neared  the  metrop 
olis,  we  discovered  a  lofty  object  that  floated  on  a  sea 
of  fog  and  smoke.  It  was  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's, 
lifting  its  gilded  cross  high  above  the  dark  canopy 
that  hovers  over  London  so  much  of  the  year. 


THE    LONDON    CONVENTION.  75 

I  shall  say  little  in  this  book  of  my  travels.  While 
in  Europe,  I  wrote  letters  to  the  New  York  Ameri 
can,  describing  my  tour,  under  the  caption  of  "  For 
eign  Rambles,"  signed  "  Rambler."  Towards  the  close 
a  few  bore  the  signature  of  "  Manhattan."  They  ex 
tended  from  July,  1840,  to  Feburary,  1841.  Portions 
of  them  were  widely  copied.  In  the  winter  of  1848- 
49  I  published  a  long  series  of  numbers  in  the  Na 
tional  Era,  of  Washington,  a  Free-soil  paper,  edited 
by  Dr.  Gamaliel  Bailey,  an  accomplished  scholar, whose 
press  had  been  thrown  years  before  into  the  river  at 
Cincinnati.  They  were  entitled,  "  Sketches  of  Re 
forms  and  Reformers  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland." 
After  retrenchments  and  additions  they  were  issued, 
in  1849,  in  a  volume  of  four  hundred  pages,  bearing 
the  same  title,  in  New  York  and  London,  by  John 
Wiley.  Portions  were  translated  and  printed  in  Paris. 
At  a  later  date  a  second  edition  was  issued  by  Charles 
Scribner.  Every  reform  that  has  since  been  carried 
through  Parliament  for  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
was  foreshadowed  in  those  numbers  of  the  Era  and 
in  that  volume. 

The  Anti-slavery  Convention  met  in  London  in 
June,  1840.  Thomas  Clarkson,  the  Abolition  patri 
arch,  was  president.  James  G.  Birney  was  one  of  the 
vice-presidents,  and  I  was  honored  with  a  seat  among 
the  secretaries.  Many  nations  were  represented.  I 
will  name  a  few  of  the  most  distinguished  who  took 
part  in  the  proceedings,  viz. :  The  Duke  of  Sussex, 
uncle  to  the  queen ;  Lord  Brougham ;  Lord  Morpeth, 
then  Chief -secretary  for  Ireland ;  Daniel  O'Connell ; 
Guizot,  the  French  Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James ; 


76  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Dr.  Lushington ;  Dr.  Bo  wring ;  Thomas  Campbell,  the 
poet ;  Samuel  Gurney,  the  great  Quaker  banker ; 
Joseph  Sturge ;  Sir  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton ;  Sir  Eard- 
ley  Wilmot ;  Sir  C.  Buller ;  the  Rt.  Hon.  C.  P.  Yil- 
liers,  Edward  Baines,  and  many  other  Parliamentary 
leaders ;  Rev.  John  Angell  James,  Rev.  Dr.  Cox,  Rev. 
Thomas  Binney,  Rev.  Dr.  Wardlaw,  and  a  long  list 
of  clergymen  of  various  denominations ;  and  two 
young  men  then  little  known — John  Bright  and  Will 
iam  E.  Forster.  The  cause  of  Abolition  wore  gold 
slippers  in  England.  The  Duchess  of  Sutherland, 
Mistress  of  the  Robes ;  the  Duchess  of  Brunswick ; 
Lady  Byron,  widow  of  the  poet ;  Elizabeth  Fry,  Mary 
Howitt,  Amelia  Opie,  Lady  Lovelace,  Elizabeth  Pease, 
and  several  other  female  celebrities  smiled  upon  the 
convention.  The  proceedings  were  reported  in  a  vol 
ume  of  six  hundred  pages. 

While  Thomas  Clarkson  was  delivering  the  opening 
address  of  the  Anti-slavery  Convention,  I  noticed  at 
my  elbow  a  gentleman  with  pale  cheeks  and  keen 
eyes,  wearing  a  silk  capote  cut  short  in  the  skirts, 
and  a  brigand  cap  that  towered  high  over  the  crani 
um,  who  seemed  to  be  sketching  the  outlines  of  the 
convention.  This  was  Benjamin  R.  Haydon,  the 
famous  painter.  Why  artists  affect  this  fantastic 
style  of  costume  when  at  work,  I  never  could  under 
stand.  I  have  seen  newspaper  reporters  who  wore 
the  brigand  cap,  but  they  were  usually  too  "  short " 
to  sport  a  long  silk  capote.  Hay  don  executed  a  large 
painting  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  conven 
tion,  which  now  hangs  in  the  National  Portrait  Gal 
lery.  While  employed  on  this  picture  he  told  me 


HAYDON,   THE    GREAT    PAINTER.  77 

many  anecdotes  of  Wellington,  Grey,  Brougham,  Rus 
sell,  and  other  eminent  statesmen  who  had  adorned 
his  historic  canvas.  I  recall  this  of  the  Iron  Duke. 
Wellington  said  he  had  sat  about  two  hundred  times 
for  his  portrait  since  Waterloo,  and  probably  as 
many  for  miniatures  and  busts.  He  told  Haydon  he 
had  rather  storm  a  fort  than  sit  to  an  artist.  Hay 
don  had  painted  him  just  previous  to  this  interview. 
One  day,  during  a  sitting,  the  old  soldier  fell  asleep 
in  his  chair,  and  continued  so  a  long  time.  The  art 
ist  employed  the  occasion  to  bestow  some  touches  of 
the  pencil  on  the  dress  of  his  illustrious  subject.  Time 
being  precious,  however,  and  wishing  to  resume  the 
coloring  of  his  features,  he  cried  out  in  a  loud  tone, 
"I  hope  the  light  don't  hurt  your  grace's  eyes?" 
Wellington  roused  up  as  suddenly  as  if  he  had  been 
caught  napping  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  replied, 
"  Oh,  no !  I  have  faced  too  much  tire  for  that !"  and, 
as  the  painter  expressed  it, "  the  old  fellow  stared  at 
the  light  with  the  eye  of  an  eagle." 

Poor  Haydon!  he  had  the  infirmities  of  genius. 
He  died  by  his  own  hand  in  184r(>. 

A  debate  on  the  famous  Scotch  Presbyterian  ques 
tion  (then  in  a  critical  condition,  and  which  ultimate 
ly  rent  that  powerful  Church  asunder)  was  to  occur 
in  the  House  of  Peers.  I  went  to  the  House  in  com 
pany  with  a  Birmingham  lawyer,  and  asked  the  door 
keeper  for  admission  to  the  gallery.  He  said  it  was 
full.  The  offer  of  a  silver  crown  did  not  reverse  his 
decision.  My  Birmingham  companion  counselled  a 
retreat.  I  took  my  card  and  addressed  it  to  Lord 
Brougham,  writing  thereon  that  I  was  Secretary  of 


78  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  World's  Anti-slavery  Convention,  from  New  York, 
and  would  be  happy  if  he  would  admit  me  and  a 
friend  to  the  gallery  to  hear  the  pending  debate.  The 
lawyer  and  the  doorkeeper  were  astounded  at  my  au 
dacity.  "  I  think  I  know  my  man,"  was  my  response. 
The  card  was  taken  in,  and  in  a  minute  the  flunky  re 
turned,  bowing  nearly  to  the  floor.  "We  were  ushered 
into  the  space  allotted  to  the  Commons  when  sum 
moned  to  the  bar  of  the  Peers.  We  were  the  sole 
occupants.  Lordly  eyes  were  turned  upon  us,  and  a 
buzzing  bevy  of  peeresses  from  behind  a  curtain  craned 
their  necks,  wondering  probably  who  on  earth  we 
were.  Earl  Dalhousie,  an  elder  in  the  Scotch  Church, 
was  closing  a  speech.  Brougham  arose.  For  twenty 
minutes  the  lawyer,  statesman,  and  orator  whose  name 
and  fame  were  the  property  of  mankind  rolled  off  so 
norous  periods  on  the  subject  under  debate.  He  then 
crossed  the  chamber  in  front  of  where  we  were  sit 
ting,  and  made  a  bow,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  What  do 
you  think  of  that  ?"  Pie  was,  perhaps,  the  vainest 
man  in  England.  The  premier,  Lord  Melbourne,  de 
livered  the  last  speech.  He  was  majestic  in  personal 
appearance,  elegantly  dressed,  and  had  the  fatherly 
aspect  which  fitted  him  to  act  as  a  sort  of  a  guardian 
to  the  youthful  queen.  But  what  an  orator!  His 
speech  was  clumsy  and  slipshod  in  the  extreme. 

I  will  recall  a  few  famous  figures  in  the  scarlet 
chamber.  The  homely  Yankee  face  of  Lord  Lynd- 
hurst,  with  a  "calculating"  shrewdness  in  his  eye, 
and  lips  firmly  set  under  an  aquiline  nose,  a  heavy 
brow,  and  a  slouched  hat  that  a  Bowery  boy  would 
hardly  have  picked  up,  was  pointed  out  side  by  side 


WELLINGTON. LYNDHURST.  79 

with  the  snowy  locks,  long,  narrow  head,  and  cres 
cent-like  visage  of  the  illustrious  chief  of  Waterloo. 
Crouching  in  his  seat  Wellington  looked  short,  but 
when  he  stood  up  he  seemed  tall.  The  Iron  Duke 
ran  much  to  legs.  Ex-chancellor  Lyndhurst  wras  a 
Boston-born  lad.  When  his  father,  John  Copley,  wras 
painting  in  London  the  famous  picture  of  the  death 
of  Chatham,  now  hanging  in  the  National  Gallery, 
he  could  not  have  imagined  that  his  New  England 
boy  would  rise  to  be  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  and 
debaters  in  the  House  where  the  great  William  Pitt 
fell.  I  heard  Wellington  deliver  a  short  speech  one 
night,  if  it  could  be  called  a  speech.  Several  hours 
had  been  spent  in  discussing  an  Irish  question.  The 
duke  rose  up.  He  occupied  ten  minutes  in  stating 
the  conclusions  he  had  reached  on  the  thorny  subject. 
He  made  no  gestures,  he  argued  nothing,  but  stood 
as  straight  and  stiff  as  a  musket,  and  talked  in  a  low 
voice.  But  everybody  in  the  chamber,  peers  and  spec 
tators,  listened  carefully  to  each  word  uttered  by  the 
soldier  who  overthrew  the  first  Napoleon. 

Suddenly  all  eyes  are  turned  towards  a  tall,  slender 
man,  his  brow  silvered  by  age,  who  is  just  entering 
the  chamber  leaning  on  the  arm  of  one  much  young 
er.  As  he  approaches  the  ministerial  bench  several 
lords  rise  and  pay  him  marked  deference.  Even 
Brougham,  who  is  at  cross-purposes  with  Melbourne, 
the  premier,  comes  trippingly  forward  from  the  cor 
ner  where  he  is  scowling,  and  greets  him  w^armly ; 
while  Lyndhurst,  Wellington,  and  two  or  three  other 
Tory  noblemen  lift  their  hats  and  bow.  This  is  Charles 
Earl  Grey,  now  in  his  seventy-seventh  year,  who,  a~> 


80  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

premier,  with  the  aid  of  Brougham,  carried  the  Re 
form  Bill  of  1832  through  the  House  of  Peers ;  or 
rather,  as  might  be  more  fittingly  said,  drove  it  over 
the  House  of  Peers.  Seating  himself,  the  venerable 
patrician  looked  around  with  the  lofty  bearing  of 
one  accustomed  to  take  the  lead  among  great  minds. 
More  than  half  a  century  before  this  Charles  Grey, 
then  in  the  Commons,  was  the  youngest  member  of 
the  famous  committee  that  managed  the  impeachment 
of  Warren  Hastings.  The  sparkling  eulogium  of  Grey 
in  Macaulay's  brilliant  description  of  that  event  in 
the  Edinburgh  Review  of  October,  1841,  will  occur  to 
the  reader. 

Earl  Grey's  solemn  admonition  to  the  House  of 
Lords  in  1832,  not  to  reject  the  Keform  Bill  that  had 
twice  passed  the  Commons  and  been  thrown  out  by 
the  Lords,  was  a  model  of  eloquence  worthy  of  the 
best  days  of  Greece  or  Rome.  Coming  from  an  old 
nobleman  like  him,  it  was  more  influential  than 
Brougham's  argument  and  closing  appeal  to  the 
Peers  "on  his  bended  knees''  to  pass  the  measure, 
and  more  effective  than  the  ridicule  poured  on  the 
hostile  lords  by  Sydney  Smith  in  his  story  of  Dame 
Partington's  unsuccessful  conflict  with  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  in  the  terrible  storm  at  Sidmouth.  In  his  last 
speech  on  that  gloomy  night  when  the  fate  of  the 
British  empire  hung  on  his  lips,  Grey  said  to  the 
Peers :  "  Though  I  am  proud  of  the  ancient  rank  to 
which  we  in  common  belong,  and  would  peril  much 
to  save  it  from  ruin,  yet  if  your  lordships  are  deter 
mined  to  reject  this  bill,  and  throw  it  scornfully  back 
in  the  face  of  an  aroused  and  indignant  people,  then 


GREY. — BROUGHAM. DURHAM.  81 

I  warn  you  to  set  your  houses  in  order,  for  your  hour 
has  come  !"  The  threat  of  Grey  was  more  potent 
than  the  logic  of  Brougham  or  the  sarcasm  of  Smith. 
The  bill  was  passed.  The  serf  rose  up  a  man,  and 
the  man  stepped  forth  an  elector. 

In  August,  1S40, 1  met  Earl  Grey  at  the  funeral  of 
his  son-in-law,  Earl  Durham,  who  had  recently  re 
turned  from  Canada  and  died  of  mortification  because 
of  his  unsuccessful  management  of  the  affairs  of  that 
then  turbulent  colony.  The  sad  spectacle  was  at  the 
country-seat  of  the  deceased  nobleman,  near  the  city 
that  bore  his  name.  The  scene  was  unusually  grand. 
Being  the  guest  of  the  Mayor  of  Durham,  and  an 
American,  1  had  a  good  opportunity  for  contemplat 
ing  the  ceremonies.  I  was  conducted  by  "  His  Wor 
ship,"  who  glistened  in  a  scarlet  robe  and  gold  chain, 
through  the  stately  edifice  of  the  earl  to  the  little 
room,  dimly  lighted  by  wax  candles  five  feet  long, 
where  lay  the  body,  guarded  by  four  mutes,  from 
whose  shoulders  drooped  black  cloaks  of  the  mediaeval 
period.  One  hundred  of  the  tenantry  of  the  rich  peer 
were  boisterously  feasting  in  the  kitchen  on  solids 
and  liquids  of  refreshing  varieties.  A  numerous  as 
semblage  of  Whig  noblemen,  members  of  Parliament, 
and  untitled  people  assisted  in  the  solemn  pageant, 
for  Durham  was  a  leader  of  the  Liberals  and  the 
hope  of  the  rising  Radicals.  From  the  window  of 
the  chamber  Avhere  lay  his  stricken  daughter  Earl 
Grey  watched  the  long  procession  that  bore  the  re 
mains  of  his  persecuted  son-in-law  through  the  adja 
cent  groves  to  the  place  of  interment. 
4* 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  House  of  Commons. — Debate  on  Canada. — Macaulay's  Speech. 
— Lord  John  Russell. — The  Lions  of  the  House.  —  O'Connell 
Aims  a  Stinging  Arrow  at  Disraeli,  the  Future  Beaconsfield. — • 
Stanley,  the  Inchoate  Earl  Derby,  Collides  with  Ho  wick,  Son  and 
Heir  of  Earl  Grey.— Sir  Robert  Peel  Compared  with  Clay,  Cal- 
houn,  and  Webster.  —  Gladstone,  "The  Rising  Hope  of  the 
Stern  and  Unbending  Tories."  —  Talfourd.  —  Bulwer's  Dandy 
Dress. — Anecdote  of  Brougham  and  Buxton. — Clarkson's  De 
scription  of  Wilberforce'a  Oratory.  —  Manners  in  the  English 
Commons  and  the  American  Congress  Compared. — The  English 
man's  H.— Oratory  in  America  and  Great  Britain.— American 
Snobbery. — Joseph  H.  Choate  and  William  E.  Forster  before 
the  Union  League  Club. — Dean  Stanley,  Canon  Farrar,  Sergeant 
Ballantyne,  and  Matthew  Arnold  Facing  American  Audiences. — 
How  they  Appeared. 

IN  dealing  with  the  House  of  Commons  I  shall 
glance  only  at  a  few  of  the  celebrated  members,  who 
are  best  known  in  America. 

I  entered  the  Commons  to  hear  a  discussion  con 
cerning  Canada,  just  then  on  the  verge  of  a  rebel 
lion.  I  was  just  seated  when  from  under  the  gallery 
there  poured  a  stream  of  words,  pitched  in  a  monoto 
nous  key,  sparkling  with  metaphors.  The  House  had 
been  rather  thin,  when  instantly  the  doors  began  to 
slam,  tidings  having  passed  out  that  Macaulay  was 
up.  His  address  reminded  me  of  his  essays  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review.  Lord  John  Russell,  colonial  sec 
retary,  and  "Whig  leader  in  the  Commons,  closed  the 
debate.  He  was  a  better  orator  than  Melbourne,  but 


O'CONXELL. — DISRAELI. PEEL.  83 

our  House  of  Kepresentatives  would  have  listened  to 
him  impatiently. 

One  of  the  lions  of  the  House  was  Daniel  O'Con> 
nell.  In  heated  controversy  he  was  as  much  dreaded 
bv  opponents  as  was  John  Quincy  Adams  in  our  Con 
gress.  I  speak  more  particularly  of  the  Irish  orator 
in  another  place.  Directly  across  the  floor  from 
O'Connell  we  recognized  the  curly  locks  and  flashing 
eyes  of  Benjamin  Disraeli,  the  undeveloped  Beacons- 
field.  He  was  then  inclined  to  be  ashamed  of  his 
Hebrew  origin.  Hence  the  keenness  of  the  sting  of 
O'Connell's  arrow,  who,  in  a  recent  exchange  of  epi 
thets  during  a  violent  quarrel,  declared  that  Disraeli 
was  the  lineal  descendant  of  the  impenitent  thief  that 
reviled  Jesus  on  the  Cross. 

Lord  Stanley,  known  in  later  times  as  Earl  Derby, 
the  Premier,  was  the  most  rapid  speaker  I  ever  heard. 
Dashing,  bold,  sarcastic,  he  was  the  Joachim  Murat 
of  debate.  As  secretary  of  the  colonies,  in  1834,  he 
carried  through  the  Commons  the  bill  for  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  the  West  Indies.  Previous  to  1840 
he  had  turned  to  be  a  Tory,  and  followed  Sir  Robert 
Peel.  I  witnessed  a  sharp  collision  between  Stanley 
and  Lord  Howick,  better  known  in  America  as  the 
second  Earl  Grey.  The  conflict  was  personal  and 
bitter.  The  fiery  and  ill-tempered  attack  of  Stanley 
was  admirably  foiled  by  the  cool,  caustic  reply  of 
Howick. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  was  then  at  the  summit  of  his  rep 
utation  as  a  Parliamentary  leader.  I  heard  him  on 
the  Irish  registration  bill,  a  measure  that  evoked  hot 
blood  and  fervid  oratory.  Though  Sir  Robert  had 


84  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

not  the  glowing  rhetoric  of  our  Clay,  nor  the  nervous 
logic  of  Calhoun,  nor  the  overshadowing  majesty  of 
Webster,  his  speech  was  cogent,  lucid,  dignified,  re 
markably  courteous  towards  opponents,  and  displayed 
that  rare  tact  which  enabled  him  to  hold  together 
what,  at  that  juncture,  was  an  incongruous  and  fac 
tious  party.  Near  him  sat  William  Ewart  Gladstone, 
a  cold,  serene,  haughty,  and  intensely  ambitious  schol 
ar  and  orator,  whom  Macaulay  had  described,  in  the 
Edinburgh  fievieiv  of  the  previous  year,  as  "a  young 
man  of  unblemished  character  and  distinguished  par 
liamentary  talents,  the  rising  hope  of  those  stern  and 
unbending  Tories  who  follow,  reluctantly  and  muti 
nously,  a  leader  (Peel)  whose  experience  and  eloquence 
are  indispensable  to  them,  but  whose  cautious  temper 
and  moderate  opinions  they  abhor."  This  was  a  faith 
ful  portrait  of  the  author  of  a  bigoted  book  in  favor 
of  the  extremest  doctrines  of  the  advocates  of  a 
union  of  Church  and  State,  which  Macaulay  was 
caustically  criticising  in  the  Whiff  Quarterly.  Who 
could  then  have  dreamed  that  this  "rising  hope  of 
the  stern  and  unbending  Tories"  would  turn  with 
the  tide  and  aid  in  repealing  the  Corn  Laws,  and,  as 
premier,  disestablish  the  Irish  Church  and  carry  the 
right  of  suffrage  almost  up  to  the  American  standard, 
and  denounce  in  acrimonious  terms  old  Liberals  who 
had  often  served  in  his  cabinets,  because  they  would 
not  accept  without  question  a  personal  scheme,  which 
even  he  could  not  clearly  explain,  for  bestowing  an 
independent  parliament  on  the  land  of  Emmet  and 
O'Connein 

There  were  then  in  the  Commons  four  authors 


LYTTON. BUXTON. — BROUGHAM.  85 

whose  writings  were  popular  in  America,  viz.,  Ma- 
caulay,  Disraeli,  Thomas  Xoon  Talfourd,  and  Ed 
ward  Lytton  Bulwer.  Having  read  their  works  at 
home,  I  took  pains  to  hear  them  in  the  national  fo 
rum.  I  have  touched  upon  the  three  first  named,  and 
will  briefly  refer  to  Bulwer,  a  Liberal  member,  then 
famous  as  a  novelist  and  dramatist,  and  in  subsequent 
years  as  a  conservative  peer,  bearing  the  title  of  Lord 
Lytton.  When  I  saw  him  he  appeared  to  be  some 
thing  of  a  dandy.  Tall,  with  an  Israelitish  curve  to 
a  long  nose,  he  was  dressed  at  the  very  height  of  the 
fashion.  There  was  a  dash  of  dudisin  in  his  man 
ners,  his  cut-away  brown  coat,  white-cluck  trousers, 
and  green-silk  cravat.  I  was  rather  surprised  to  hear 
such  extreme  radicalism  from  such  aristocratic  lips. 
But  though  nothing  else  could  have  been  logically 
expected  from  the  author  of  "  Paul  Clifford,"  "  Eugene 
Aram,"  and  the  "  Lady  of  Lyons,"  the  hue  of  Bul- 
wer's  politics,  whether  he  shone  as  a  liberal  Common 
er  or  a  Tory  lord,  was  as  easily  changed  as  the  color 
of  his  cravats. 

Sir  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton  w^as  made  a  baronet  in 
1840,  in  return  for  services  in  Parliament  in  the  cause 
of  West  India  emancipation.  This  anecdote  wras  told 
to  me  by  one  of  his  family :  In  the  year  1824,  when 
Buxton  and  Brougham  were  in  the  Commons,  some 
petitions  were  confided  to  them  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  West  India  Colonies.  On  consultation 
they  agreed  to  submit  a  motion  for  the  amelioration 
of  slavery.  Buxton  was  to  make  the  motion  and 
Brougham  to  support  him.  Due  notice  was  given, 
and  the  West  India  interest  was  on  the  qui  vive  for 


S6  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

opposition.  A  tempest  was  anticipated.  Buxton  was 
apprehensive  he  should  be  unceremoniously  coughed 
and  scraped  down.  The  clay  came.  Just  as  Buxton 
was  about  to  lift  his  majestic  form — -he  was  six  feet 
six  inches  high — Brougham  whispered  to  him, "  I  will 
cheer  you  while  you  are  speaking,  and  you  must  do 
the  same  for  me"  "  Agreed,"  responded  the  agitated 
brewer,  as  he  rose  and  commenced  speaking  amid 
evident  signs  of  impatience  on  the  part  of  many 
Commoners.  A  storm  was  brewing,  but  Brougham 
cried,  "  Hear !  Hear ! !  Hear ! ! !"  with  all  his  might, 
and  clapped  and  stamped  so  lustily  that  the  House 
was  struck  with  amazement,  thought  he  was  crazy, 
and  permitted  Buxton  to  conclude  his  speech  without 
much  interruption.  In  an  instant  Brougham  Avas  on 
his  feet,  his  eye  flashing  fire,  and  his  hair  erect  Avith 
excitement.  Members  cried,  "  Divide !  Divide !"  in 
stentorian  tones.  "  Harry  the  Commoner  "  stood  un 
moved  as  a  rock.  When  silence  Avas  restored  he  Avent 
forward,  kindling  Avith  his  theme,  rolling  out  splendid 
thoughts  and  gloAving  illustrations,  Avhich  held  the 
House  in  aAve.  The  shouts  of  "  Hear !  Hear ! !  Hear ! ! !" 
from  Buxton  became  contagious,  and  at  the  close  of 
his  speech  Brougham  sat  down  amid  rounds  of  ap 
plause. 

Thomas  Clarkson's  unique  mansion,  near  Ipswich, 
Avas  erected  in  the  same  year  that  Columbus  discov 
ered  America.  It  had  its  moat  and  draAvbridge,  the 
water  in  the  former  fragrant  Avith  pond-lilies,  and  the 
railing  of  the  latter  entAvined  with  creeping-roses. 
"With  pride  glistening  in  his  eye  he  showed  me  the 
original  records  of  the  first  society — formed  by  him 


CLAKKSOX. — FOX. WILBERFORCE.  87 

and  William  Wilberforce  and  their  associates,  in  1786, 
for  the  abolition  of  the  African  slave-trade.  He 
gave  racy  anecdotes  and  sketches  of  illustrious  men 
whom  he  had  known  and  wrought  with  in  that  cause, 
and  spoke  particularly  of  Wilberforce,  the  younger 
Pitt,  Fox,  Burke,  Sharpe,  Windham,  Bishop  Porteus, 
and  others  of  the  great  dead  among  his  coadjutors, 
and  of  Brougham,  Buxton,  and  O'Connell,  with  whom 
he  had  toiled  in  the  later  struggles  to  overthrow  sla 
very  in  the  West  Indies.  I  asked  him  about  the  oratory 
of  Fox,  and  if  Mr.  Wilberforce  was  a  good  speaker  in 
Parliament,  telling  him  that  in  America  it  was  gen 
erally  believed  that  Wilberforce  was  not  a  command 
ing  figure  in  the  Commons.  The  cheek  of  the  patri 
arch  glowed  with  enthusiasm  as  he  replied  that  Fox 
was  terrible  in  debate,  attacking  his  enemies  in  a  style 
that  sometimes  bordered  on  ferocity.  He  feared  noth 
ing  ;  but,  though  a  lion  on  the  floor,  was  as  mild  as  a 
lamb  in  private  intercourse.  In  response  to  my  in 
quiry  concerning  Wilberforce,  he  drew  himself  up  to 
full  height,  and  exclaimed,  "  Mr.  Wilberforce  not  an 
orator !  He  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  men  in 
Parliament.  His  voice  was  as  musical  as  a  flute,  and 
his  choice  words  followed  each  other  with  a  regular 
ity  and  beauty  that  fell  on  the  ear  like  the  swells  of 
an  organ."  I  asked  if  he  was  not  rather  diminutive 
in  person.  "  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Clarkson,  "  but  his  ear 
nestness  and  pathos,  and  the  magnitude  of  his  theme 
when  exposing  the  evils  of  the  slave-trade  made  him 
look  large  in  debate." 

When  I  was  in  England  the  manners  of  the  House 
of  Commons  were  often  rude  and  boisterous.     Two  or 


88  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

three  times  I  witnessed  scenes  that  would  have  befit 
ted  the  spectators  at  a  prize-ring  better  than  the  mem 
bers  of  a  legislative  assembly.  Such  cheers,  yells, 
hisses,  groans !  Such  vituperation  and  personal  abuse, 
for  which  representatives  in  Congress  would  have  been 
required  to  promptly  apologize  on  pain  of  expulsion ! 
I  have  seen  some  of  the  most  angry  collisions  that 
ever  occurred  in  our  Senate  and  House.  They  were 
perilous,  and  came  near  to  bloodshed ;  but  they  were 
less  coarse  and  noisy  than  those  I  beheld  in  Parlia 
ment.  Ours  were  the  quarrels  of  inflamed  gentlemen. 
Theirs  were  the  conflicts  of  heated  bullies.  Perhaps 
the  House  of  Commons  has  improved  in  late  years, 
but  those  rude  outbreaks  during  the  recent  debates 
on  Home  Rule  do  not  tend  to  prove  it.  American 
congressmen  do  not  scrape  an  opponent  down  by  shuf 
fling  their  feet,  nor  silence  him  by  concerted  cough 
ing,  nor  drown  his  voice  by  cries  of  "  Divide !  Divide !" 
"  Oh !  Ah !"  nor  drive  him  to  his  seat  by  ironical 
cheers,  nor  jeer  him  by  affected  yells  of  "  Hear !  Hear !" 
A  congressman  might  kill  a  colleague  in  a  duel  for 
words  spoken  in  debate,  or  even  shoot  him,  or  plunge 
a  knife  into  his  abdomen  in  an  encounter  in  the  lob 
by,  but  he  would  scorn  to  bellow  him  down  like  a 
bull.  He  prefers  to  leave  that  style  of  argument  to 
the  members  of  a  body  which  has  been  called  "  An 
Assembly  of  the  First  Gentlemen  in  Europe." 

The  American  who  would  thoroughly  master  the 
utterance  of  the  English  nation,  whether  in  Parlia 
ment,  at  the  bar,  in  the  pulpit,  on  the  platform,  or  in 
the  streets,  must  pause  and  consider  the  letter  h.  It 
modifies  their  language,  and  is  to  them  the  key  of 


BRITISH    AND    AMERICAN    ORATORY.  89 

the  alphabet.  He  who  supposes  that  the  peculiarity 
in  this  regard  relates  only  to  the  common  people  is 
quite  mistaken ;  it  crops  out  not  infrequently  in  per 
sons  of  the  higher  types,  and  especially  the  middle  class. 

The  facility  of  the  average  Englishman  in  drop 
ping  out  and  picking  up  the  h  was  brought  vividly 
before  me  on  the  second  day  I  was  in  the  kingdom. 
I  present  it  as  a  sparkling  drop  from  "  the  well  of 
English  undefiled."  I  was  on  the  coach  between  Ex 
eter  and  Bath,  with  a  seat  by  the  driver's  side.  I 
caught  sight  of  a  great  edifice  in  ruins  on  a  distant 
hill.  It  was  my  first  ruin  in  the  Old  World,  and  I 
wished  to  make  as  much  of  it  as  possible.  I  eagerly 
asked  the  coachman  w^hat  it  was.  "  Sir,"  said  he, 
"that  is  Glastonbury  habbey.  In  the  reign  of  King 
'Enry  the  Heighth,  the  hold  habbot  rebelled,  and  the 
king  'ung  'im  hon  a  gallows,  hand  then  cut  hoff  'is 
'ead,  and  confiscated  'is  lands."  Telling  the  coach 
man  that  I  had  just  landed  from  America,  he  kindly 
gave  me  an  extra  stop  of  fifteen  minutes  to  glance  at 
the  ruins  of  the  famous  abbey,  which  cover  many 
acres,  and  where  moulder  the  bones  of  renowned 
bishops  and  princes,  whose  history  I  had  read  in 
Hume,  or  'Time,  as  John  Bull  would  call  him. 

While  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  I  heard 
much  public  speaking  in  Parliament,  at  the  bar,  in  the 
pulpit,  and  on  the  platform  from  persons  of  all  types. 
It  is  only  echoing  the  general  opinion  to  say  that  this 
foreign  oratory  was  far  inferior  to  ours.  The  Eng 
lish  specimens  could  hardly  have  been  worse.  Such 
hesitating,  hemming,  hawing,  stammering,  stuttering, 
stumbling!  They  cultivate  this  style,  and  think  it 


00  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

aristocratic.  While  they  seem  to  reverence  their 
sleezy  diction  and  slipshod  utterance  as  if  it  were  a 
part  of  the  British  Constitution,  to  other  nations  it 
appears  not  merely  contemptible,  but  makes  their  or 
ators  a  laughing-stock.  Of  course^  I  met  a  great  many 
exceptions  to  this  sweeping  rule. 

On  the  other  hand,  not  only  in  the  matter  of  ora 
tory,  but  in  everything  else,  the  British  turn  up  their 
noses  at  us.  It  is  no  wonder.  The  snobbery  and  ser 
vility  of  our  tourists  in  that  country,  and  of  some  of 
our  ministers  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  have  con 
firmed  them  in  their  fancied  superiority  over  the 
Americans.  Indeed,  our  toadyism  has  reached  a  point 
where  it  is  deemed  unfashionable  to  give  American 
names  even  to  our  hotels,  and  therefore  we  call  them 
after  some  of  the  most  infamous  characters  in  British 
history. 

Some  of  our  citizens  can  recall  a  scene  that  enabled 
them  to  compare  American  with  English  orators.  I 
refer  to  the  reception  given  by  the  Union  League  Club, 
of  New  York,  to  the  Right  Honorable  W.  E.  Eorster, 
for  his  steady  advocacy  of  the  Union  cause  in  the 
House  of  Commons  during  the  Civil  War.  Arrayed 
in  a  dress  coat  and  white  cravat  which  Beau  Brummel 
or  George  IY.  would  have  envied,  Joseph  II.  Choate, 
the  president  of  the  club,  rained  down  for  half  an 
hour  upon  Mr.  Eorster  a  brilliant  shower  of  encomi 
ums  that  made  the  plainly  dressed  semi-Quaker  quail. 
In  matter  and  manner  it  was  one  of  Choate's  happy 
efforts,  while  Forster's  response  was  thoroughly  Eng 
lish  in  style  and  sentiment.  The  contrast  between 
the  two  performances  was  striking  and  instructive. 


STANLEY. FARRAR. BALLANTYNE. ARNOLD.         0.1. 

Even  fresher  illustrations  of  the  superiority  herein 
asserted  will  occur  to  those  who  listened  in  this  coun 
try  to  Dean  Stanley,  Canon  Farrar,  Sergeant  Ballan- 
tyne,  and  Matthew  Arnold.  The  two  distinguished 
divines  utterly  failed  to  sustain  the  reputation  as 
pulpit  orators  which  they  brought  here ;  the  learned 
lawyer  hopelessly  broke  down  when  confronting  his 
first  American  audience ;  and  the  famous  essayist, 
who  lectured  for  years  with  great  edat  in  his  native 
land,  had  to  take  lessons  in  elocution  after  reaching 
our  shores  before,  on  his  own  admission,  he  felt  com 
petent  to  face  a  trans- Atlantic  assembly. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Westminster  Hall. — The  Courts:  Lords  Cottenham,  Denman,  and 
Abinger,  Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  and  other  Members  of  the 
Bench  and  Bar. — In  France.— Deputy  Isambert  and  Advocate 
Cremieux. — The  Great  Napoleon's  Mausoleum  in  Preparation 
on  the  Banks  of  the  Seine. — Napoleon,  "the  Pretender,"  Seized 
while  Raising  a  Rebellion  at  Boulogne. — Return  to  England.— 
London  in  a  Fog.— William  the  Conqueror  and  Battle  Abbey.— 
Runnymede  and  Magna  Charta. — Bosworth  Field  and  Richard 
III.  —  Cromwell's  Schoolhouse,  Mansion,  and  Farm. — Judge 
Jeffreys  and  the  Bloody  Assizes. — William  III.  and  the  Battle 
of  the  Boy ne.— Old  Sarum,  the  Model  Rotten  Borough.— The 
Chartists  and  their  Creed. — Main  Cause  of  their  Failure. 

I  ENTERED  the  great  Hall  of  William  Ruf  us,  in  West 
minster,  whose  old  oaken  arches  had  witnessed  the 
crowning  of  many  kings,  the  trial  of  Charles  I.,  the 
expulsion  of  the  Rump  Parliament  by  Cromwell,  and 
the  bursts  of  eloquence  of  Burke  and  Sheridan  on  the 
arraignment  of  Warren  Hastings  for  high  crimes  and 
misdemeanors,  and  I  was  spellbound  as  I  paced  its 
stone  floor,  worn  by  the  footsteps  of  centuries.  I 
visited  the  apartments  where  the  courts  were  in  ses 
sion.  There  sat  Lord  Chancellor  Cottenham,  Chief- 
Justice  Denman,  of  the  Queen's  Bench,  Lord  Abinger, 
of  the  Exchequer,  better  known  to  the  bar  in  Amer 
ica  as  Sir  James  Scarlett.  Of  course  I  was  deeply 
interested  in  witnessing  the  proceedings  of  tribunals 
that  gave  law  to  so  large  a  part  of  Christendom,  and 
whose  decisions  are  daily  cited  in  the  courts  of  the 


ENGLISH    JUDGES    AND    LAWYERS.  93 

United  States.  I  had  heard  a  speech  from  Lord  Cot- 
tenham  in  the  Peers.  I  now  listened  to  arguments 
in  the  courts  from  Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  Sergeant 
Talfourd,  and  Sir  William  Follett,  leaders  of  the  bar. 
In  matter  they  were  able  ;  in  manner  bad. 

I  was  abroad  till  January,  1841.  I  delivered  thirty 
or  forty  speeches  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and 
attended  two  conferences  in  France.  I  had  come 
from  the  land  of  mobs,  where  the  press,  with  few  ex 
ceptions,  delighted  to  misrepresent  Abolitionists.  It 
seemed  a  pleasant  change  to  find  myself  introduced 
to  audiences  by  members  of  Parliament,  fellows  of 
the  universities,  lord  mayors  of  cities,  peers  of  the 
realm,  bishops  of  the  Establishment,  and  the  manager 
of  the  Edinburgh  Review,  and  then  to  see  my  speech 
es  fully  and  fairly  reported  in  the  newspapers.  I 
took  courage,  and  dared  to  say  in  the  words  of  a  Rad 
ical  rhymer : 

"  There's  a  good  time  coming, 

A  good  time  coming; 
We  may  not  live  to  see  the  day, 
But  Earth  will  glisten  in  the  ray 
Of  the  good  time  coming; 
Wait  a  little  longer." 

I  lived  to  see  the  day. 

While  in  France,  in  the  summer  of  1840, 1  attend 
ed  two  important  Anti-slavery  conferences  in  Paris. 
This  was  a  part  of  my  object  in  going  to  Europe. 
These  conferences  were  participated  in  by  M.  Isam- 
bert,  a  prominent  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Depu 
ties,  and  M.  Cremieux,  subsequently  minister  of  jus 
tice  in  the  government  of  Lamartine,  and  other  lead- 


94  KANDOM   EECOLLECTIOXS. 

ers  of  opinion.  I  cannot  even  allude  to  the  many 
famous  places  I  visited  on  the  Continent,  but  I  will 
except  two  or  three.  It  was  in  a  memorable  Napo 
leonic  year  that  I  saw  France.  In  Paris,  under  the 
dome  of  the  Hotel  des  Invalides,  they  were  preparing 
a  magnificent  mausoleum  for  the  great  emperor, 
whose  remains  were  to  be  received  from  St.  Helena 
in  the  autumn.  The  old  soldiers  on  the  banks  of  the 
Seine,  who  had  fought  under  the  Little  Corporal  in 
many  battles,  were  aglow  with  enthusiasm  at  the  ap 
proach  of  the  pageant.  I  stopped  in  July  in  the  pub 
lic  square  of  Boulogne  and  noted  its  points  of  interest. 
Two  weeks  later  the  young  pretender,  known  after 
wards  as  Napoleon  III.,  dashed  into  the  square  with 
fifty  armed  followers,  posted  a  proclamation  on  the 
walls,  and  called  upon  the  people  to  rise  and  drive 
Louis  Philippe  from  France.  The  wild  adventurer 
was  sentenced  to  the  citadel  of  Ham  for  life,  but  he 
contrived  to  escape  from  his  grim  prison  in  May, 
1846.  Other  historic  mile-stones  dwelt  in  my  mem 
ory,  and  furnished  the  keys  whereby  I  subsequently 
interpreted  the  downfall  of  Louis  Philippe,  in  1848, 
and  the  extinguishment  of  the  Napoleonic  dynasty, 
in  the  Franco-German  war  of  1870. 

On  returning  from  the  Continent  we  had  a  night 
ride  on  a  coach  from  Dover  to  London.  We  reached 
Shooter's  Hill  just  as  the  orb  of  day  was  breaking 
through  a  bank  of  clouds.  The  basin  wherein  the 
great  metropolis  reposes  seemed  a  vast  lake,  whose 
bosom  was  rippled  by  the  wind.  The  dome  of  the 
Cathedral  loomed  above  the  surface  and  glistened  in 
the  morning  sunbeams,  while  Highgate  stood  sentry 


WILLIAM    THE    CONQUEROR.  05 

over  the  scene  on  the  north.  The  illusion  was  per 
fect. 

I  shall  run  through  the  country  at  random,  merely 
pointing  to  a  few  landmarks,  which  stand  as  blazed 
trees  along  the  track  where  history  has  hewed  its 
path.  I  am  not  writing  a  sketch  of  my  travels.  The 
letters  to  the  New  York  American,  above  mentioned, 
give  glimpses  of  my  wanderings,  and  show  that  I  did 
not  attend  solely  to  Anti-slavery  matters,  but  for  six 
months  went  the  beaten  track  of  a  tourist.  In  what 
I  jot  down  I  shall  generally  have  some  reference  to 
human  progress. 

I  went  down  to  Hastings  to  see  the  harbor  and  the 
pier  AY  here  William  anchored  the  seven  hundred  ves 
sels  and  landed  the  sixty  thousand  men  for  the  great 
conquest.  Six  miles  inland  is  the  field  where  the 
grim  invader,  in  October,  106(3,  fought  the  battle  that 
placed  the  kingdom  of  Alfred  the  Saxon  under  the 
heel  of  William  the  Norman.  Poor  Harold,  the  Eng 
lish  monarch,  pierced  in  the  eye  by  an  arrow,  lost 
his  crown  and  his  life  in  the  struggle.  Here  the  Con 
queror,  "  of  pious  memory,"  erected  Battle  Abbey  as 
a  memorial  of  the  victory  that  gave  England  the  feu 
dal  system  and  the  Domesday  Book.  The  abbey  is  a 
frowning  edifice,  partially  in  ruins,  a  crumbling  land 
mark  of  British  history. 

On  the  south  bank  of  the  Thames,  a  few  miles  from 
London,  I  saw  a  beautiful  meadow.  At  the  west  I 
caught  sight  of  the  towers  of  Windsor  Castle,  while 
my  eyes  scanned  the  dense  smoke  that  canopied  the 
metropolis  on  the  east.  In  1215  there  transpired  on 
this  little  meadow  one  of  the  most  important  events 


96  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

in  the  history  of  England.  Gloomy  King  John  came 
over  from  Windsor  to  Runnymede  to  confer  with  his 
rebellious  barons.  On  the  19th  of  June,  at  their  dic 
tation,  he  affixed  the  royal  seal  (perhaps  he  could  not 
write  his  name)  to  Magna  Charta. 

Thousands  of  Englishmen  daily  sail  up  and  down 
the  Thames,  past  this  sedgy  spot,  without  being  aware 
that  their  Declaration  of  Independence  was  issued 
here  six  hundred  years  ago.  There  is  nothing  strange 
in  this.  Crowds  of  Americans  daily  beat  their  surges 
against  a  little  brick  edifice  in  Philadelphia  without 
remembering  that  within  its  walls,  on  July  4,  1776,  a 
few  feeble  colonies  issued  the  immortal  document 
that  hurled  defiance  (to  quote  Webster)  at  a  power 
whose  morning  drum-beat,  starting  with  the  sun  and 
keeping  company  with  the  hours,  encircled  the  earth 
with  one  continuous  and  unbroken  strain  of  the  mar 
tial  airs  of  England. 

The  wars  of  the  Roses  changed  the  line  of  descent 
of  the  English  crown  from  the  Plantagenets  to  the 
Tudors.  In  1485  the  White  Rose  of  York  was  blast 
ed  by  the  Red  Rose  of  Lancaster,  on  Bosworth  field. 
I  had  seen  the  battle  fought  so  often  on  the  stage  by 
Booth,  Eorrest,  and  Macready,  that,  after  viewing 
the  old  schoolhouse  at  Leicester,  wherein  Dr.  Sam 
Johnson  was  once  usher,  I  rode  a  little  way  out  of 
town  to  the  plain  where  the  genuine  crook-backed 
Richard  was  slain,  and  the  coronet  placed  on  the 
brow  of  Henry  VII.  by  Lord  Stanley.  The  guide 
was  loquacious,  as  became  his  calling.  I  swallowed 
his  stories  without  a  grimace,  till  he  told  me  my 
feet  at  that  moment  rested  on  the  very  sod  where 


BOSWORTH    FIELD. ROB    ROY.  97 

Richard  cried  aloud,  "A  horse  !  A  horse!  my  king 
dom  for  a  horse !"  Then  I  was  tempted  to  bolt  the 
track,  because  no  historian  informs  us  that  "  White 
Surrey  "  had  been  killed  or  had  fled ;  and  while  that 
renowned  steed  lived  what  need  had  Kichard  of  an 
other  horse  ? 

However,  I  early  learned  to  accept  such  tales  as 
true,  and  get  as  much  enjoyment  out  of  the  delusion 
as  possible.  "When,  for  example,  they  exhibited  the 
block  in  the  Tower  of  London  whereon  Lady  Jane 
Grey  is  said  to  have  been  beheaded,  I  admitted  that 
some  sharp  instrument  had  made  a  cleft  in  it.  They 
pointed  me  to  the  schoolroom  at  Huntingdon  where 
Cromwell  learned  his  A  B  C's,  and  to  the  identical 
wooden  desk  at  which  he  sat.  I  conceded  that  the 
latter  had  been  thoroughly  whittled,  and  the  only  won 
der  was  that  it  had  stood  the  jack-knives  so  well  for 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  When  gazing  at  cer 
tain  suspicious-looking  scratches  on  the  window-sill 
of  Whitehall,  and  on  being  assured  that  these  were 
the  prints  of  the  spikes  that  helped  to  hold  up  the 
scaffold  whereon  Charles  I.  was  put  to  death  in  1649, 
I  did  not  for  a  moment  dispute  that  that  unfortunate 
monarch  lost  his  head  in  that  vicinity  about  that 
time.  So  when  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  an  an 
cient  dame  charged  only  a  crown  for  letting  me  han 
dle  Rob  Roy's  alleged  musket,  I  drew  an  approving 
smile  from  the  old  crone  by  the  remark  that  the  bar 
rel  was  uncommonly  long  and  the  lock  very  rusty. 
Is  not  this  the  best  way  to  deal  with  this  kind  of 
so-called  information  ?  Tourists  must  not  be  too  crit 
ical. 


98  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Oliver  Cromwell  prepared  the  way  for  the  expulsion 
of  the  Stuarts.  I  walked  through  the  brick  house 
and  over  the  fair  fields  of  Huntingdon  where  the  Pu 
ritan  spent  his  youth.  The  mansion  resembled  a  large 
Pennsylvania  farmhouse  of  the  higher  class.  Here, 
in  mature  years,  he  trained  his  Ironsides,  who  marched 
to  the  tune  of  Old  Hundred,  but  in  many  an  encoun 
ter  met  undismayed  the  legions  of  the  court  and  hie 
rarchy,  oft  sweeping  them  like  chaff  before  the  wind. 
His  well-planned  battle  at  ISTaseby  ruined  Charles.  I 
traversed  the  hillock  over  which  the  lion-hearted 
general,  sword  in  hand,  led  the  decisive  charge. 
When  he  became  Protector  of  the  Commonwealth 
he  took  up  the  despised  name  of  Kingless  England, 
and  bore  it  aloft  on  the  eagle- wings  of  a  far-sighted 
policy,  and  made  it  respected  and  feared  at  every 
court  in  Europe.  He  was  a  great  soldier  and  a  great 
er  ruler,  and  stood  among  the  foremost  men  of  his 
time. 

I  skirted  the  fatal  field  of  Sedgemoor,  where  the  un 
fortunate  followers  of  Momnouth  sought  to  dethrone 
James  II.  before  his  hour  had  fully  come.  I  sat  in 
the  old  Court-house  at  Taunton,  where  the  monster 
Jeffreys  held  the  Bloody  Assizes,  which  condemned 
to  death  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  men,  women, 
and  boys  for  participating  in  this  uprising,  and  sent 
eight  hundred  and  forty-one  victims  into  perpetual 
slavery.  The  vials  of  retribution  were  poured  upon 
the  head  of  this  infamous  judge  when  his  master  fell. 
He  cowered  in  a  tap-room  at  Greenwich,  disguised  as 
a  servant,  and,  on  discovery,  begged  to  be  lodged  in 
the  Tower  as  a  protection  from  the  populace,  who 


WILLIAM    III. — OLD    SARUM.  99 

threatened  to  tear  him  limb  from  limb.  There  he 
howled  like  a  maniac,  haunted  by  the  ghosts  of  those 
whom  he  had  condemned  to  the  gallows  and  the 
galleys  at  Taunton.  The  blackest  villain  that  ever 
stained  the  bench  wras  George  Jeffreys. 

Torbay  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  ocean  inlets 
my  eyes  ever  beheld.  It  lies  in  the  lap  of  luxuriant 
Devonshire.  I  sawr  it  in  the  high  noon  of  summer 
exuberance.  In  this  bay,  on  the  5th  of  November, 
1688,  "William,  the  Stadtholder  of  Holland,  anchored 
the  great  fleet,  and  landed  the  grand  army  he  brought 
over  to  drive  James  II.  from  the  British  throne.  The 
credulous  king  was  slow  to  believe  that  his  nephew 
had  been  invited  to  invade  England  by  eminent  lead 
ers  of  public  opinion.  It  was  an  easier  conquest  than 
that  of  the  other  William,  who  landed  at  Hastings 
six  hundred  and  twenty -two  years  before.  James 
fled  to  Francs.  In  July,  1 690,  he  made  a  last  feeble 
rally  for  his  throne  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne.  In 
early  youth  I  read  a  pictorial  history  of  England. 
Among  its  illustrations  was  a  vivid  sketch  of  Will 
iam  crossing  the  Boyne  and  shouting  to  his  soldiers, 
"  To  glory !  My  lads,  to  glory !"  It  has  been  the 
rule  of  my  life  to  deepen  the  good  impressions  of  my 
youth.  Of  course  I  saw  the  Boyne,  and  sat  down  on 
the  northern  bank,  wrhere  William  was  wrounded,  and 
fancied  I  saw  the  cowardly  James  fleeing  over  the 
hills  on  the  opposite  side,  the  first  one  to  run  away. 
William  III.  was  the  greatest  monarch  wrho  ever  sat 
on  the  British  throne. 

The  rotten  borough  called  Old  Sarum  was  the  laugh 
ing-stock  of  the  Whigs  in  the  day  of  the  first  Reform 


100  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Bill  of  1832.  I  visited  its  site,  getting  glimpses  of 
Salisbury  Plain,  a  locality  which  had  nestled  in  my 
memory  since  I  read  the  religious  tract  entitled 
"  The  Shepherd  of  Salisbury  Plain."  1  could  scarce 
ly  believe  my  eyes  as  I  looked  upon  Old  Sarum.  For 
centuries  previous  to  the  Reform  Bill  it  had  sent  two 
members  to  Parliament,  though  not  a  soul  had  lived 
there  since  the  Tudors  mounted  the  throne.  It  was 
a  mere  sand-hill,  without  showing  even  the  ruins  of  a 
dwelling,  though  once  it  had  a  small  population.  Yet 
this  utter  waste,  down  to  1832,  had  as  large  a  repre 
sentation  in  the  Commons  as  Lancashire,  with  its 
million  and  a  half  of  people.  The  voting  at  elec 
tions  used  to  be  done  by  the  owner  of  Old  Sarum, 
who  sent  himself  and  a  favorite,  or  two  of  the  latter 
stripe,  to  Parliament. 

Though  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832  abolished  absurdi 
ties  like  Old  Sarum,  it  left  the  representation  in  the 
House  of  Commons  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  state. 
This  led  to  Chartism,  a  well-meaning  but  rather  tur 
bulent  faction,  whose  five  foundation-principles  were 
universal  suffrage,  voting  by  ballot,  equal  parliamen 
tary  districts,  no  property  qualification  for  represen 
tatives,  and  the  payment  of  salaries  to  members. 
This  platform  will  seem  familiar  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  but  the  announcement  of  the 
Chartist  creed  threw  England  into  convulsions.  1 
happened  to  speak  at  a  large  Chartist  meeting. 
Some  English  friends  warned  me  not  to  attend,  but 
I  said  I  had  rode  out  many  mobs  in  America,  and 
rather  like  1  it.  The  organization  was  already  drifting 
upon  the  shoals  of  violence,  I  cautioned  them  against 


THE    ENGLISH    CHARTISTS  1^:1 

disorder.  But  in  a  fe'.v  years  they  destroyed  them 
selves  and  their  party  by  outbreaks  and  bloodshed. 
In  later  times,  and  under  the  guidance  of  Gladstone, 
Bright,  William  E.  Forster,  and  their  associates,  the 
cause  of  free  suffrage  and  parliamentary  reform  has 
recovered  some  of  the  ground  which  the  Chartists 
proved  incompetent  to  occupy. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

Some  British  Poets. — Thomas  Campbell. — In  the  London  Con 
vention  he  Ridicules  American  Poets.  —  He  is  Answered. — 
Ehenezer  Elliott. — James  Montgomery. — Lord  Byron's  Widow. 
— His  Daughter,  Ada  Augusta. — Thomas  Carlyle. — He  Calls 
Victor  Hugo  a  Humbug,  and  Criticises  Emerson. — In  Scotland. 
— Rev.  Doctors  Chalmers  and  "VVardlaw  as  Pulpit  Orators. — The 
Manager  of  the  Edinburgh  Review  Presides  over  an  Anti-Slavery 
Meeting. — Sydney  Smith  Preaches  a  Sermon.  —  Lord  Francis 
Jeffrey  on  Law  Reform,  the  New  York  Revised  Statutes,  and 
Jeremy  Bentham,  the  Codifier. — The  Field  of  Culloden. — 
Charles  Edward  Stuart. — Clarkson's  Opinion  of  the  Four  Stuarts 
and  the  Four  Georges. — In  Ireland. — O'Connell  on  the  Repeal 
of  the  Union.— John  Randolph  Said  he  was  the  First  Orator  in 
Europe.— Other  Famous  Men  and  Places. — Return  to  America. 
— Admitted  to  the  Boston  Bar. 

Ax  amusing  scene  occurred  in  the  London  Anti- 
slavery  Convention  that  may  be  worth  mentioning. 
I  was  on  the  platform  reading  a  report  when  Thomas 
Campbell  entered.  He  was  greeted  with  applause. 
I  stopped  reading.  Mr.  O'Connell,  with  a  flourish, 
reminded  the  American  delegates  that  the  author  of 
"  Gertrude  of  Wyoming  "  stood  before  them,  and  there 
were  loud  calls  for  a  speech.  The  poet,  in  a  muddled 
style,  began  to  compliment  American  institutions,  and 
then  plunged,  in  a  zigzag  way,  into  a  contemptuous 
criticism  of  our  poetry.  His  manner  was  peculiar, 
his  pose  unsteady,  his  tongue  thick.  I  replied,  eulo 
gizing  his  productions,  and  warmly  vindicating  the 
authors  he  had  assailed.  He  kept  jumping  up  and 


SOME    BRITISH    POETS.  103 

interjecting  responses,  and  our  colloquy  kept  the  au 
dience  in  a  roar.  All  this  was  taken  down  by  the 
stenographer,  but  it  was  omitted  from  the  published 
report  by  the  English  managers  on  their  excuse  that 
Campbell  was  intoxicated.  But  I  was  not  disposed 
to  sit  still  and  hear  Bryant,  Whittier,  and  Longfellow 
abused  by  any  British  bard,  whether  sober  or  drunk. 
A  glance  at  two  or  three  other  poets  must  suffice. 
A  letter  of  introduction  brought  me  in  front  of  "  El 
liott  &  Co.'s  Iron  and  Steel  Warehouse,"  at  Sheffield. 
I  went  to  his  house,  where  I  was  greeted  with  a  hearty 
"  Walk  in !"  from  the  Corn-law  Rhymer,  who  was 
standing  on  the  threshold  in  his  stocking-feet.  He 
made  no  apology  for  his  rough  appearance,  drew  on 
his  shoes,  and  opened  a  racy  dialogue  about  America. 
He  was  enthusiastic  in  his  admiration  of  General  Jack 
son,  and  dilated  on  his  heroism  in  the  battle  with 
"  Biddle  and  the  Bank/'  Elliott,  like  Burns,  was  the 
poet  of  the  poor,  and  his  songs  were  the  lays  of  labor. 
Unlike  the  Ayrshire  ploughman,  the  Yorkshire  iron 
monger  did  not  draw  his  inspiration  from  open,  breezy 
fields,  but  from  the  stifling  air  of  hot  furnaces.  Burns 
was  the  bard  of  yeomen,  Elliott  was  the  bard  of  arti 
sans.  Presenting  me  with  a  copy  of  his  works,  and 
slightly  changing  his  dress,  we  ascended  the  hill  to 
the  embowered  cottage  of  James  Montgomery.  The 
contrast  could  hardly  have  been  greater  than  that  be 
tween  the  rugged  rhymester  and  the  sacred  singer. 
Polished  in  manner,  neat  in  dress,  calm  in  conversa 
tion,  Montgomery  inquired  about  the  Pro -slavery 
mobs  in  the  United  States,  especially  the  destruction 
of  newspapers,  his  voice  rising  to  indignation  as  he 


10  J:  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

spoke  of  his  own  imprisonment  in  York  Castle  in 
early  days  for  the  publication,  in  the  Sheffield  Iris,  of 
liberal  doctrines,  offensive  to  the  administration  of 
th.3  younger  Pitt. 

In  London  I  met  Lady  Byron,  in  company  with 
her  daughter,  Lady  Lovelace,  Lord  Byron's  Ada  Au 
gusta,  the  "gentle  Ada,"  sole  heiress  of  her  father's 
fame.  The  mother  took  a  deep  interest  in  emancipa 
tion  and  common-school  education  in  America,  but 
evaded  all  reference  to  her  late  husband.  The  eyes 
of  the  daughter  sparkled  when  I  told  her  that  not 
only  in  the  mansions  of  the  rich  in  the  cities,  but  in 
log-huts  beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  his  poems 
were  familiar  as  household  words.  Her  countenance 
seemed  to  me  to  reflect  more  closely  the  brilliant  feat 
ures  of  the  father  than  the  plain  face  of  the  mother. 

I  met  Thomas  Carlyle.  He  was  dressed  in  a  shab 
by  suit  of  gray.  I  was  not  delighted  with  this  "  writ 
er  of  books,"  as  he  called  himself.  We  talked  about 
America,  and  he  betrayed  great  ignorance  of  a  people 
at  whom  he  sneered.  He  conversed  rapidly,  walked 
the  room  nervously,  and  shot  out  porcupine  quills  in 
discriminately  at  good  and  evil.  As  a  specimen  of 
his  talk  I  will  say  that  he  called  Victor  Hugo  "  a  glit 
tering  humbug."  His  vicious  style  of  writing  caused 
him  to  go  by  crooked  ways  up  to  an  idea  instead  of 
advancing  towards  it  by  a  straight  path.  Much  of 
his  assumed  profundity  sprang  from  this  source.  In 
later  times  his  execrable  style  grew  more  and  more 
misleading.  Take,  for  instance,  some  of  his  lauded 
writings,  and  disentangle  and  analyze  paragraphs  that 
appear  to  hide  in  their  meshes  ideas  too  deep  and  aw- 


CARLYLE  AXD  EMERSOX.  105 

ful  to  be  expressed  in  plain  Anglo-Saxon,  and  you  will 
discover  that  the  matter  is  either  quite  meaningless 
or  very  commonplace.  But,  notwithstanding  his  crab 
bed  sentences,  rooted  prejudices,  and  sour  temper,  Car- 
lyle's  war  on  "  Shams "  was  beneficial  to  mankind, 
while  his  pen,  at  lucid  intervals,  shed  valuable  light 
along  the  track  of  history  and  biography.  Ameri 
cans  must  not  be  too  severe  on  the  unique  Scotchman, 
though  he  is  reported  to  have  said  of  our  Emerson 
that  his  few  ideas  would  be  more  clearly  and  beauti 
fully  clothed  if  he  used  half  as  many  words  to  cover 
them.  Transcendental  writers  do  indeed  need  trans 
lators  to  put  their  productions  into  idiomatic  English. 
It  is  mere  affectation  to  go  into  raptures  over  chap 
ters  one  third  of  which  nobody  really  understands. 
Life  is  too  short  to  be  wasted  in  sifting  a  few  kernels 
of  wheat  out  of  bushels  of  chaff. 

I  might  describe  many  persons  whom  I  met  abroad, 
men  and  women,  celebrities,  oddities,  famous,  infa 
mous,  but  I  have  no  room  for  them.  Several  are  no 
ticed  in  my  volume  of  "  Sketches  of  Keforms  and  Re 
formers." 

AYe  must  give  England  a  rest,  and  repair  to  Scot 
land.  I  went  the  grand  rounds  of  the  Lowlands  and 
the  Highlands,  and  sketched  outlines  of  my  tour 
in  letters  to  the  New  York  American.  Repetitions 
will  be  avoided.  I  jot  only  here  and  there.  I  listened 
to  a  sermon  by  Dr.  Chalmers,  then  in  the  fulness  of 
his  prime,  and  the  leader  in  the  movement  that  ulti- 
matecl  in  the  disruption  of  the  Church  of  John  Knox. 
His  discourse  was  a  chain  of  close  reasoning,  glitter 
ing  imagery,  and  glowing  with  fervor.  Its  drawback 


106  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

to  me  was  the  strong  Scotch  accent  of  the  orator. 
His  delivery  lacked  the  mellow  cadence  of  Dr.  Ealph 
Wardlaw  of  Glasgow,  who,  to  Dr.  Chalmers,  was  as 
Apollos  to  Paul. 

Our  large  Anti-slavery  meeting  in  the  Scotch  capi 
tal  was  presided  over  by  the  manager  of  the  Edin 
burgh  ^Review.  "With  what  clash,  audacity,  and  brill 
iancy  did  that  celebrated  periodical  leap  into  the  arena 
of  journalism  in  the  dark,  troubled,  and  despotic  epoch 
of  1802.  The  cause  of  freedom  in  both  hemispheres 
is  its  debtor.  Perhaps  at  the  head  of  the  long  list  of 
writers  who  imparted  lustre  to  its  pages  and  gath 
ered  fame  by  their  contributions  during  the  first 
forty  years  of  its  existence  stand  Sydney  Smith, 
Francis  Jeffrey,  Henry  Brougham,  and  Thomas  Bab- 
ington  Macaulay.  It  made  them  all  lords  except 
Smith,  who  would  have  been  a  lord-bishop  if  he  had 
not  cracked  so  many  jokes  over  the  head  of  the  Es 
tablished  Church.  I  had  heard  Brougham  and  Ma 
caulay  in  Parliament.  In  a  country  parish  I  rode  ten 
miles  in  the  rain  to  listen  to  a  sermon  by  Smith,  the 
Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  who  was  visiting  a  rural  rector. 
It  was  a  plain  discourse,  though  two  or  three  para 
graphs  reminded  me  that  Peter  Plymley  was  in 
the  desk.  In  Edinburgh  I  had  an  interview  Avith 
Lord  Jeffrey,  then  at  the  head  of  the  Scotch  judiciary. 
He  took  an  interest  in  law  reform,  and  asked  me  a 
good  many  questions  about  the  New  York  Revised 
Statutes  and  their  authors,  which  I  reciprocated  by 
inquiring  into  the  habits  and  studies  of  the  strange 
coclifier  Jeremy  Bentham,  then  deceased,  who  always 
seemed  to  me  to  be  in  law  what  Dr.  Franklin  was  in 


THE    FIELD    OF    CULLODEX.  107 

science,  Dr.  Johnson  in.  literature,  and  Dr.  Greeley  in 
journalism.  I  deemed  it  fortunate  that  I  had  seen 
and  heard  the  four  greatest  of  the  Edinburgh  re 
viewers. 

The  last  Stuart  made  a  gallant  stand  at  Preston- 
Pans  in  1845,  just  below  Edinburgh,  for  the  crown  of 
his  grandfather.  His  Scotch  claymores  "  hewed  deep 
their  gory  way  "  into  the  ranks  of  the  English,  and 
they  fled.  But  the  tide  turned  against  the  young 
prince  the  next  year.  On  a  bleak  ridge  near  Inver 
ness  he  fought  the  fatal  battle  of  Culloden  in  April, 
1740.  In  spite  of  his  winning  manners  and  indomit 
able  courage  his  cause  was  ruined.  Having  again  and 
again  declaimed  at  school  Campbell's  "  Lochiel !  Loch- 
iel !  beware  of  the  day,"  I  saw  Culloden  on  a  bluster 
ing  October  afternoon,  and  almost  wished  that  the 
chivalrous  Charles  Edward  had  fared  better.  At 
Play  ford  Hall,  the  residence  of  Thomas  Clarkson,  the 
conversation  turned  upon  the  Stuarts.  "The  four 
Stuarts,"  said  the  companion  of  Granville  Sharp  and 
William  Wilberforce,  "were  a  bad  lot."  Then,  as 
if  in  parenthesis,  he  added,  "  And  so  were  the  four 
Georges."  Time  will  never  reverse  this  verdict. 

When  in  London  Mr.  O'Connell  invited  me  to  Dub 
lin,  and  laughingly  said  he  would  induct  me  into  the 
mysteries  of  his  agitation  for  the  repeal  of  the  union 
between  England  and  Ireland.  His  son  John,  then 
in  the  Commons,  presided  at  our  Anti-slavery  assem 
bly  in  Dublin.  He  was  a  faint  copy  of  his  sire.  The 
father  gave  me  a  special  ticket  to  a  Kepeal  meeting. 
He  delivered  an  elaborate  address  of  two  hours'  length, 
intended,  as  he  said,  to  inform  me  of  the  ends  ho  had 


108  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

in  view.  Mr.  O'Connell  was  foremost  among  the 
eloquent  public  speakers  of  his  era.  John  Randolph 
said  he  was  the  greatest  orator  he  heard  in  Europe. 
He  won  the  title  of  "  Liberator  of  Ireland."  In  the 
address  I  have  referred  to  he  said  that  no  political  re 
form  was  worth  the  shedding  of  one  drop  of  blood. 
His  repeal  agitation  brought  him  to  prison,  and  came 
to  naught.  Though  something  of  a  demagogue,  he 
was  the  friend  of  man,  irrespective  of  clime,  color, 
creed,  or  condition.  Wherever  humanity  sank  under 
the  blow  of  the  tyrant  there  were  found  the  genial 
heart  and  clarion  voice  of  Daniel  O'Connell  sympa 
thizing  with  the  fallen  and  rebuking  the  oppressor. 

Other  scenes  rise  before  me,  but  I  must  stop  and 
hie  to  America.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  sketch  a 
visit  to  Boston,  where  William  Brewster,  my  Puritan 
ancestor,  was  long  imprisoned  for  nonconformity ;  and 
to  the  gloomy  jail  at  Bedford,  where  John  Bunyan 
wrote  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress  ;"  but  there  is  no  space 
for  them.  Nor  is  there  for  descriptions  of  other  fa 
mous  places  I  saw,  as,  for  example,  Flociden  Field, 
immortalized  by  Scott  in  "  Marmion ;"  and  the  site  of 
the  Eye  House,  whose  plot  sent  Algernon  Sydney  and 
William  Russell  to  the  scaffold;  and  Moor  Park, 
where  William  III.  was  wont  to  consult  Temple,  and 
where  Swift  captivated  and  ruined  "  Stella ;"  and 
Blenheim  Castle,  whose  stately  halls  saw  streams  of 
dotage  flow  from  Marlborough's  eyes;  and  Dayles- 
ford,  rebuilt  by  Warren  Hastings,  and  to  which  he 
retreated  when  pursued  by  Burke,  Fox,  and  Sheridan 
in  the  great  impeachment  trial ;  and  Birnam  Wood, 
where  I  cut  two  memorial  canes  and  took  them  to 


RETURN    TO    AMERICA    IN    1841.  109 

Dunsinane,  and  could  then  have  assured  Macbeth  (if 
there  ever  were  such  a  king,  and  he  had  been  pres 
ent)  that  Birnam  AY  ood  had  come  to  Dunsinane ;  and 
the  sanguinary  field  of  Bannockburn,  where  a  min 
strel,  accompanying  his  melodious  voice  on  a  harp, 
sang  the  immortal  ballad  of  Burns  : 

"  Scots,  \vha  liae  TV!'  Wallace  bled, 
Scots,  wham  Bruce  has  aften  led." 

I  dismiss  all  these  scenes,  and  gladly  hie  to  Amer 
ica,  where  I  arrived  in  1841.  On  my  return  I  com 
pleted  my  law  studies,  and,  in  1842,  went  into  prac 
tice  at  Boston.  But  I  still  performed  much  work  in 
the  Anti-slavery  cause,  both  on  the  platform  and  in 
the  press.  To  make  way  for  other  matters,  I  shall  say 
little  of  my  labors  in  this  latter  field. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Law. — Boston  Bench  and  Bar. — Judges  Story,  Sprague,  and 
Shaw. — Jeremiah  Mason. — Daniel  Webster. — Rufus  Choate. — 
Their  Triumphs  in  the  Criminal  Cases  of  Avery,  the  Knapps, 
and  Tirrell.— Samuel  Hoar. — He  is  Sent  to  South  Carolina  to 
Test  the  Constitutionality  of  Laws  Imprisoning  Free  Colored 
Seamen. — Expelled  from  the  State  by  Force.— Mr.  Hoar's  Fee 
as  a  Referee.— Choate  before  Juries. — Shaw  on  the  Bench. — 
Choate's  Stimulants,  Hot  Coffee  and  Hot  Water.— Tirrell's  Two 
Celebrated  Trials  for  Murder  and  Arson. — Parker,  the  Prose 
cuting  Attorney.— Somnambulism  the  Defence. — George  Head's 
Manufactured  Testimony,  and  Rufus  Choate's  Marvellous  Ora 
tory,  Twice  Save  Tin-ell's  Life. 

IN  disposing  of  judges,  lawyers,  and  courts  at  one 
sitting,  I  shall  illustrate  the  rule  that  adherence  to 
the  order  of  topics  is  more  important  than  regard  for 
the  order  of  dates.  I  shall  begin  at  Boston,  where  I 
was  first  admitted  to  practice.  As  a  general  rule 
(though  there  will  be  many  exceptions),  when  I  take 
up  a  lawyer  or  a  case,  I  shall  get  through  with  them 
before  the  man  or  the  subject  is  laid  down. 

At  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking,  the  bench  and 
bar  at  Boston  were  exceptionally  distinguished.  Jo 
seph  Story  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  fame ;  Judge 
Sprague,  of  the  United  States  District  Court,  who 
won  a  high  reputation  as  Senator  in  Congress,  was 
his  worthy  associate.  Chief -justice  Shaw,  of  the  State 
Supreme  Court,  was  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  New 
England.  The  leader  of  the  bar  was,  of  course,  Mr. 


WEBSTER. MASON. CHOATE.  Ill 

Webster,  though  Jeremiah  Mason  stood  close  to  him. 
But,  viewed  in  some  lights,  the  most  brilliant  figure 
was  Kufus  Choate.  He  was  appreciated  by  the  five 
great  men  just  mentioned,  and  was  the  admiration  of 
his  junior  brethren  of  the  profession,  who  were  accus 
tomed  to  pack  the  courts  to  witness  his  wonderful 
displays  of  logic,  learning,  and  eloquence. 

While  I  dwelt  in  Boston,  Jeremiah  Mason  was  one 
of  its  greatest  lawyers.  For  half  a  century  he  was  a 
commanding  figure  at  the  New  England  bar.  Born 
and  educated  in  my  native  county,  he  spent  his  best 
years  in  New  Hampshire,  whence  he  removed  to  Bos 
ton  in  1832.  I  recall  his  tall  form,  six  feet  seven 
inches  high,  as  he  passed  along  the  streets,  or  tow 
ered  above  his  brethren  in  the  courts.  I  heard  him 
once  before  the  full  bench.  Deliberate,  methodical, 
luminous,  compact,  with  little  rhetoric  and  few  ges 
tures,  his  argument  was  a  masterly  performance  of 
steel-linked  logic. 

Daniel  Webster  in  his  autobiography,  written  in 
1838,  gives  a  graphic  sketch  of  his  great  rival.  I 
quote  a  paragraph :  "  For  the  nine  years  I  lived  in 
Portsmouth,  Mr.  Mason  and  myself,  in  the  counties 
where  we  practised,  were  on  opposite  sides  of  each 
case  pretty  much  as  a  matter  of  course.  ...  If  there 
be  in  this  country  a  stronger  intellect,  if  there  be  a 
mind  of  more  native  resources,  if  there  be  a  vision 
that  sees  quicker  or  sees  deeper  into  whatever  is  in 
tricate  or  whatsoever  is  profound,  I  confess  I  have  not 
known  it.  I  have  not  written  this  paragraph  with 
out  considering  what  it  implies.  I  look  to  that  indi 
vidual  who,  if  it  belong  to  anybody,  is  entitled  to  be 


112  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

an  exception.  But  I  deliberately  let  the  judgment 
stand."  The  individual  referred  to  was  Chief -justice 
Marshall.  This  opinion  of  Mason  was  recorded  after 
Webster  had  been  thirty-four  years  at  the  bar  and 
twenty  years  in  Congress. 

One  of  Mr.  Mason's  greatest  achievements  while  in 
Boston  was  his  successful  defence,  under  the  most  ad 
verse  circumstances,  at  Newport,  II.  I.,  of  the  Rev. 
Ephraim  K.  A  very,  on  an  indictment  for  the  killing 
of  his  mistress,  a  Miss  Cornell,  while  trying  to  pro 
duce  an  abortion  by  his  own  unskilled  hand.  The 
trial  was  replete  with  dramatic  incidents,  and  famous 
in  its  day.  Mr.  Mason  cleared  another  sort  of  pris 
oner  by  quite  a  different  method.  After  he  had  be 
come  distinguished  in  New  Hampshire,  he  went  into 
a  rural  county  to  try  a  civil  suit.  A  pompous  little 
judge  was  on  the  bench.  He  assigned  Mason  to  de 
fend  a  negro  on  an  indictment  for  petty  larceny. 
With  surprise,  tinged  with  indignation,  Mason  de 
clined  the  task.  "  Sir,  you  must  obey  the  order  of 
the  court,"  said  the  little  judge.  "  All  you  need  do 
is  to  take  your  client  into  the  adjoining  room  and 
give  him  the  best  advice  you  can."  This  struck  Ma 
son  in  a  funny  light,  and  he  arose,  beckoned  to  the 
negro,  and  stalked  into  an  empty  room  with  his 
"  client "  at  his  heels.  "  Are  you  guilty  ?"  asked  Ma 
son.  "  Yes,  sir,"  responded  the  negro.  "  Can  they 
prove  it  ?"  "  Yes,  sir ;  all  the  witnesses  are  here." 
Mason  put  his  head  out  of  the  open  window  and  said, 
"  It  is  about  fifteen  feet  to  the  ground.  Do  you  see 
those  woods?"  The  negro  leaped,  and  Mason  re 
turned  into  the  court.  By  and  by  the  case  was  called. 


SAMUEL    HOAR.  113 

but  the  negro  did  not  respond.  "Where  is  your  cli 
ent  r  asked  the  little  judge.  "  I  do  not  know,"  re 
plied  Mason.  "  Your  honor  directed  me  to  give  him 
the  best  advice  I  could,  and  the  last  I  saw  of  him  he 
was  running  for  those  woods  over  there/'  Every 
body  laughed  except  the  little  judge,  and  the  curtain 
fell  on  the  scene. 

The  acquittal  of  Avery  by  Mr.  Mason,  the  convic 
tion  of  the  Knapps  by  Mr.  Webster  for  the  murder  of 
Joseph  White  of  Salem,  and  the  acquittal  of  Albert 
J.  Tirrell  by  Rufus  Choate  for  the  murder  of  Maria 
Bickford,  were  the  greatest  triumphs  in  criminal  cases 
ever  won  by  Boston  lawyers. 

It  was  a  rare  privilege  to  listen,  as  I  did,  to  Mr. 
Webster's  eulogium  on  Joseph  Story  and  Jeremiah 
Mason  when  announcing  their  death  before  the  bench 
and  bar  of  Boston. 

Samuel  Hoar  was  for  a  long  time  one  of  the  lead 
ers  of  the  Massachusetts  bar,  to  which  he  was  admit 
ted  in  1805.  The  first  time  I  saw  him  was  in  1836  or 
1837,  in  the  trial  of  a  celebrated  will  case  before  a 
jury  at  Boston.  Mr.  Webster  was  his  chief  opponent. 
Rufus  Choate  was  one  of  the  junior  counsel.  I  heard 
both  Webster  and  Hoar  address  the  jury  in  this  case 
on  t\vo  successive  days,  Mr.  Webster  speaking  first. 
It  was  apparent  that  "the  Great  Expounder"  stood 
a  little  in  fear  of  the  calm,  cool,  incisive  logic  of  the 
wary  advocate  that  was  to  follow  him,  whose  pose  and 
style  reminded  the  spectator  of  Jeremiah  Mason. 

In  the  turbulent  days  South  Carolina  was  accus 
tomed  to  seize  free  negro  seamen  who  came  into  her 
ports  from  the  Northern  States,  and  lodge  them  in 


114  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

jail  until  the  vessels  whereon  they  served  sailed  away. 
If  any  of  these  negroes  happened  to  be  left  behind, 
the  commonwealth  of  John  C.  Calhoun  Avould  sell 
them  into  perpetual  slavery  to  pay  the  jail  fees.  In 
1844  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  (some  of  the 
colored  sailors  of  that  state  had  been  thus  impris 
oned)  sent  Mr.  Hoar  to  Charleston  to  test  the  consti 
tutionality  of  these  statutes  in  the  courts  sitting  in 
that  state.  He  arrived  there  in  November,  when  the 
Legislature  of  South  Carolina  passed  a  law  directing 
the  governor  to  expel  him  from  the  state  by  force. 
On  December  5  he  was  collared  and  put  on  shipboard, 
and  might  have  been  killed  by  a  "  chivalrous  "  mob 
that  pursued  him  to  the  wharf,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  presence  of  his  daughter.  It  was  a  long  line  of 
deeds  of  this  kind  that  almost  reconciled  us  to  seeing 
South  Carolina  ravaged  by  Union  troops  during  the 
war,  and  subsequently  trodden  down  by  a  negro  leg 
islature  sitting  in  the  capitol  that  passed  the  law  for 
the  expulsion  of  Mr.  Hoar,  and  subjected  for  a  while 
to  the  robber  rule  of  that  infamous  rogue,  Governor 
Franklin  J.  Moses. 

In  Boston  some  Connecticut  clients  employed  me 
to  sue  the  owners  of  the  woollen  mill  at  Lowell, 
whereof  Abbott  Lawrence  and  his  brothers  were  the 
principal  proprietors,  for  an  alleged  violation  of  a 
contract  for  the  purchase  of  a  quantity  of  wool. 
Other  wool-growers  in  Connecticut  had  commenced 
similar  suits  against  the  same  defendants.  The  amount 
involved  w as  large,  and  it  was  agreed  that  there  should 
be  only  one  trial,  and  that  the  result  in  all  the  cases 
should  hinge  on  that  trial.  It  was  further  agreed 


RUFUS  CHOATE'S  ORATORY.  115 

that  the  whole  matter  should  be  sent  to  Mr.  Hoar  to 
hear  and  determine  as  referee.  He  resided  in  Con 
cord,  and  took  the  testimony  in  Boston,  where  there 
were  several  sittings.  The  controversy  was  decidedly 
sharp,  and  the  swearing  pretty  hard.  One  of  the 
Lawrences  sold  his  shares  in  the  Lowell  mill,  and  thus 
qualified  himself  to  be  a  witness,  thereby  gaining  an 
advantage  over  my  clients,  who,  under  the  law  of  evi 
dence  as  it  then  stood,  could  not  testify.  On  the 
turning-point  in  the  case  Lawrence  contradicted  my 
witnesses  explicitly.  Mr.  Hoar  was  on  intimate  so 
cial  and  political  relations  with  the  Lawrences. 

1  have  told  this  commonplace  anecdote  for  the  sin 
gle  purpose  of  stating  the  fee  of  the  referee.  Mr. 
Hoar  decided  the  case  in  my  favor.  When  he  hand 
ed  me  his  report  as  referee  I  asked  him  how  much  his 
charge  was.  "  Twenty  dollars,"  was  the  quiet  reply. 
Shades  of  Tweed,  and  the  long  procession  of  departed 
referees  of  our  epoch  (not  to  speak  of  those  who  sur 
vive),  how  times  and  prices  have  changed  since  the 
days  of  honest  and  inflexible  Samuel  Hoar  ! 

Mr.  Hoar  married  a  daughter  of  Eoger  Sherman, 
who  was  on  the  committee  that  drafted  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence.  He  was  the  father  of  E. 
Eockwood  and  George  Frisbie  Hoar.  The  mother  of 
"William  M.  Evarts  was  also  a  daughter  of  Roger 
Sherman. 

WHat  spectator  that  beheld  Rufus  Choate  in  a  great 
cause  could  ever  forget  that  tall  figure,  that  sallow 
complexion,  that  piercing  dark  eye,  those  black  locks, 
which  hung  in  curls  over  an  expansive  forehead,  those 
dramatic  gestures  that  gave  point  and  emphasis  to 


110  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

pungent  sentences,  that  majestic  tread,  which  shook 
the  room  till  the  windows  shivered,  that  voice  whose 
notes  now  swelled  like  a  trumpet,  and  anon  sank  into 
a  wail  as  if  a  gentle  breeze  were  sighing  in  the  tree- 
tops,  and  all  this  without  the  slightest  affectation, 
and  with  a  clearness  of  vision  that  saw  the  pinch  of 
his  case,  and  a  sincerity  of  manner  which  proved  that 
victory,  and  not  display,  was  the  end  he  kept  steadily 
in  view  ?  Mr.  Choate  argued  a  case  in  the  Supreme 
Court  at  Washington.  A  distinguished  Southern 
Senator  heard  him,  and  speaking  to  Mr.  Webster  the 
next  day  said :  "  I  listened  to  your  Mr.  Choate  yester 
day.  He  is  an  extraordinary  man."  "An  extraor 
dinary  man !"  replied  Webster.  "  Sir,  he  is  a  marvel." 
Like  Edmund  Burke,  whom  he  studied  and  admired, 
Mr.  Choate  drove  "a  substantive  and  six."  Chief- 
justice  Lemuel  Shaw  was  a  man  of  few  words.  He 
looked  like  a  rough  fragment  of  the  feudal  system. 
Short,  thick,  with  a  head  covered  with  coarse,  frowzy 
hair,  which  appeared  never  to  have  been  combed,  he 
had  a  habit  of  resting  his  elbows  while  in  court  on 
the  shelf  before  him,  and  holding  up  his  chin  by  his 
hands,  and  glaring  at  counsel  through  spectacles 
trimmed  with  tortoise-shell  instead  of  silver  or  gold, 
a  rather  striking  resemblance  to  a  grizzly  bear  sitting 
on  his  haunches.  .  But  his  head  was  clear  as  sunshine, 
and  his  rhetoric  a  model  in  style,  though  his  growling 
voice  made  the  short  opinions  he  delivered  on  side 
issues  during  the  trial  of  a  cause  seem  like  nectar 
gurgling  from  a  tar- barrel.  The  Old  Chief,  as  he  was 
familiarly  called,  had  a  gentle  heart,  and  there  was  a 
soft  place  in  it  for  Choate,  of  whom  he  was  really 


CHIEF-JUSTICE    LEMUEL    SHAW.  117 

proud,  though  apt  to  jerk  him  up  with  a  short  rein 
when  too  wordy.  One  afternoon  I  stepped  into  court 
when  Choate  was  flashing  his  lightnings  around  the 
Chief-justice,  who  kept  interrupting  him.  Walking 
with  Mr.  Choate  to  our  lodgings  an  hour  later,  I  re 
marked  that  the  Old  Chief  was  unusually  restive  and 
annoying  during  his  argument.  "  Yes,"  said  Choate, 
"  he  is  an  old  barbarian !"  Then  taking  a  few  long 
strides,  he  added  in  slow,  solemn  style,  "  But  life,  lib 
erty,  and  property  are  safe  in  his  hands."  He  was 
arguing  on  another  occasion  a  novel  point  of  law  be 
fore  the  full  bench.  He  was  on  the  crest  of  the  wave. 
He  expressed  his  gratification  at  the  opportunity  of 
discussing  this  new  question  at  the  bar  of  a  tribunal 
whose  reputation  for  learning  and  integrity  had  long 
since  overflowed  the  boundaries  of  the  commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts,  and  reached  the  uttermost  limits  of 
the  Union.  The  Old  Chief  broke  in  :  "  Mr.  Choate,  do 
you  present  that  as  a  serious  argument  to  this  court  if" 
"  Oli,  no,  your  honor,"  replied  Mr.  Choate,  in  his  hu 
morous  style,  "  it  was  only  a  rhetorical  flourish." 
Then,  stooping  down,  he  said  to  his  associate  in  a 
tone  loud  enough  to  be  heard  all  around,  "  The  Chief- 
justice  is  an  urbane  gentleman.  It  is  a  pity  he  don't 
know  any  law."  But  there  is  no  end  to  stories  of 
this  sort  about  Mr.  Choate,  and  I  forbear. 

It  has  been  my  fortune  to  hear  many  of  the  fore 
most  lawyers  in  this  country  and  in  Great  Britain. 
As  an  advocate  before  a  jury,  especially  in  a  difficult 
case,  I  never  saw  the  superior  of  Rufus  Choate. 

The  habits  of  such  consummate  orators  are  worthy 
of  studv.  Immediately  before  he  was  to  address  a 


118  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

jury  Mr.  Choate  would  step  across  the  street  to  the 
Boston  Delmonico's  and  drink  two  or  three  cups  of 
strong,  piping -hot  coffee.  A  jug  of  smoking -hot 
water  would  stand  by  his  side  in  the  court-room. 
The  coffee  stimulated  the  brain.  Sips  of  the  water 
kept  up  the  stimulus  and  lubricated  the  throat.  And 
now  came  the  cyclone.  The  man  knows  little  about 
physiology  wrho  resorts  to  brandy  before  making  a 
speech,  and  imbibes  cold  water  during  its  delivery. 

The  interval  between  Mason  and  Choate  was  very 
wide.  The  happy  mean  w^as  hit  by  Mr.AYebster  when 
addressing  either  the  court  or  the  jury. 

I  hesitate  about  relating  the  following  instance  of 
manufactured  testimony.  What  I  shall  state  is  true, 
but  I  remember  the  adage  that  "  even  the  truth  is  not 
to  be  spoken  at  all  times."  However,  this  occurred 
so  long  ago  that  the  principal  parties  passed  from 
earth  many  years  since,  and  the  recital  may  serve  a 
valuable  purpose  as  an  illustration  of  what  I  believe 
occurs  oftener  than  the  outside  public  suppose,  i.  <?., 
the  manufacturing  of  testimony  to  meet  an  emergen 
cy  in  judicial  proceedings. 

One  of  the  celebrated  criminal  cases  in  Kew  Eng 
land  was  that  of  Albert  J.  Tirrell,  who  was  tried  at 
Boston  in  1846,  on  two  indictments,  for  the  double 
crime  of  murdering  his  mistress,  Maria  Bickford  (I 
think  I  give  these  names  correctly),  and  then  setting 
fire  to  the  assignation-house  in  which  he  concealed 
her.  Tirrell's  family  was  respectable  and  wealthy. 
He  was  a  wild  fellowT,  had  a  wife,  was  infatuated  with 
the  Bickford  girl,  feared  he  was  about  to  lose  her,  and 
this  was  supposed  to  be  his  reason  for  cutting  her 


TIRRELI/S    CELEBRATED    CASE.  119 

throat  with  a  razor,  and  firing  the  house  to  cover  the 
deed.  Each  of  these  offences  was  punishable  with 
death.  The  leading  counsel  for  Tirrell  was  Rufus 
Choate,  and  who  that  ever  saw  Samuel  Dunn  Parker 
could  forget  the  long-headed,  hard-working  prosecut 
ing  attorney  ?  His  form,  voice,  manner,  victories  and 
defeats  are  among  the  interesting  memories  of  the 
Boston  bar. 

The  hinge-point  in  the  defence  in  this  case  was 
somnambulism.  It  was  selected  by  the  junior  counsel 
in  preference  to  an  alibi  (which  was  tendered),  be 
cause,  as  one  of  them  remarked,  the  latter  was  liable 
to  break  down.  Mr.  Chcate,  who  doubtless  knew 
nothing  of  the  circumstances  of  this  selection,  merely 
said  that  he  liked  the  line  of  defence,  for  an  alibi  was 
stale,  but  there  was  a  fresh  flavor  about  somnambu 
lism.  It  is  proper  to  state  that  I  was  wholly  unaware 
of  these  preliminary  matters,  and  had  no  suspicion 
that  any  of  the  testimony  had  been  manufactured 
until  after  Tirrell  was  acquitted  on  both  indictments. 

George  Head  (I  draw  on  my  memory  for  his  first 
name)  kept  a  livery  stable  in  the  heart  of  Boston.  He 
slept  over  his  stable,  and  in  the  night  had  a  lantern 
burning  in  the  hall  below.  The  small  house  where 
Maria  boarded  was  in  an  obscure  street,  and  about 
eight  minutes'  walk  from  the  stable.  The  murder 
and  arson  were  committed  just  before  daybreak,  a 
waning  moon  still  shining.  Head  and  Tirrell  for 
some  years  had  been  "  hale  fellows  well  met."  They 
travelled  together  and  drank  and  played  cards  togeth 
er,  and  did  many  other  things  in  partnership.  Head 
had  a  clear  brain,  steady  nerve,  rare  self-poise,  and 


\'2(J  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

was  a  faithful  confederate  in  a  desperate  straight. 
Before  he  was  placed  on  the  witness  stand  the  ex 
traordinary  line  of  defence  was  fully  explained  by  one 
of  the  junior  counsel  to  the  jury,  which  lifted  the  ex 
perienced  prosecuting  attorney  quite  off  his  feet  with 
surprise.  The  way  Avas  prepared  for  Head  by  pre 
liminary  testimony  from  two  or  three  members  of 
the  Tirrell  family  concerning  the  alleged  sleep-walk 
ing  habits  of  Albert  in  his  youth,  and  how  he  would 
glare  wildly  and  utter  guttural  sounds  on  such  occa 
sions.  The  path  was  still  further  cleared  by  show 
ing  the  precise  hour  when  Tirrell  left  the  assignation- 
house  on  that  morning,  uttering  guttural  noises  as 
he  went  stumbling  down  the  steps. 

Head  now  entered  the  witness-box,  and  fixed  the 
precise  time  when  he  was  awakened  by  guttural  noises 
at  the  door  of  his  stable,  which  was  exactly  ten  min 
utes  later  than  the  guttural  noises  on  the  steps  of  the 
assignation-house.  Amid  much  other  matter  Head 
testified,  in  substance,  that  he  looked  at  the  clock, 
thrust  his  head  out  of  a  window,  and  asked,  "  Who  is 
there?-'  A  man  turned  his  face  up,  and  the  moon 
beams  showed  that  it  was  Tirrell.  He  opened  the 
door  and  let  him  in.  Albert  glared  at  him  with  eyes 
that  had  no  "  speculation  "  in  them,  and  in  broken  par 
agraphs  said,  "  They  are  after  me  !"  "  They  are  try 
ing  to  kill  me !"  "  They  want  my  blood  !"  "  They  are 
setting  the  house  on  fire !"  Head  said  he  knew  of 
Tirrell's  somnambulistic  fits  and  was  not  much  sur 
prised,  but  could  not  imagine  what  he  was  talking 
about.  He  took  him  by  the  collar  and  walked  him 
around  the  stable,  called  him  a  d d  fool,  and  want- 


TIKKELL    AND    HEAD.  121 

ed  to  know  what  ailed  him.  After  exercising  him  in 
this  style  for  some  minutes  Albert  suddenly  woke  up 
and  stared  at  Head  and  the  lantern.  His  first  in 
quiry  was,  "  George,  how  came  I  here  ?  Have  I  been 
in  the  stable  all  night  ?"  still  gazing  with  dazed  eye 
balls  at  Head  and  the  lantern,  and  so  and  so  forth, 
with  much  additional  testimony  from  the  calm  and 
plausible  Head  on  the  direct  examination.  The  pro 
tracted  and  severe  cross-examination  by  crisp,  sharp 
old  Parker  did  not  shake  him  a  particle.  His  recital 
of  the  stable  scene  produced  a  profound  impression 
on  the  jury,  one  of  whom  subsequently  told  his  coun 
sel  that  it  was  mainly  on  this  testimony  that  they 
acquitted  the  prisoner. 

Now  for  the  real  facts  of  the  meeting  of  Head  and 
Tirrell  at  the  stable.  The  former  was  fully  aware  of 
the  latter' s  relations  with  Maria.  After  perpetrating 
the  murder  and  the  arson,  he  walked  over  to  Head's 
stable,  arrived  about  the  time  stated  by  Head,  knocked 
at  the  door,  made  himself  known,  was  admitted,  told 
Head  the  particulars  of  the  murder  and  the  arson 
(without  a  speck  of  somnambulism !),  consulted  him  as 
to  the  best  mode  of  escape,  and  was  driven  in  the  ear 
ly  dawn  to  his  home  at  Weymouth  in  one  of  Head's 
close  carriages. 

The  public  know  the  rest.  Tirrell  immediately 
sailed  clandestinely  to  New  Orleans,  was  indicted  for 
the  double  crime  in  Boston,  was  brought  thither  un 
der  an  executive  requisition,  and  on  two  trials  for  his 
life  was  acquitted  by  means  of  the  manufactured  tes 
timony  of  George  Head  and  the  marvellous  oratory 
of  Eufus  Choate. 
G 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Law.— Several  Novel  Cases.— Libel  Suit  at  Tauntou.— The 
Vivid  "Dream." — Criminal  Prosecution  for  Libel  at  New  Lon 
don.— John  T.  Wait  and  Lafayette  S.  Foster  for  the  State.— The 
Daniels's  Case  at  Boston.— Charles  G.  Loring  and  Benjamin  R. 
Curtis  Counsel  for  the  Defendant. — Choate  for  Plaintiffs. — A 
Patent  Suit. — Charles  Sumner,  Benjamin  F.  Hallett,  and  Horace 
E.  Smith  Counsel. — Joel  Preutiss  Bishop,  the  Law-writer.— John 
P.  Hale  as  Lawyer  and  Senator. — Theodore  Parker  under  In 
dictment.— Hale  his  Counsel. — Parker  on  Fish  and  Phosphorus. 

IN  1844-45,  William  Wilbar  kept  a  large  whole 
sale  and  retail  liquor  store  in  Taunton,  Mass.  Benja 
min  Williams  printed  a  lively  temperance  newspaper 
in  that  town.  Under  the  similitude  of  "  A  Dream  " 
he  published  a  scathing  article  about  Wilbar's  store. 
The  dream  painted  the  establishment  in  the  most  ap 
palling  colors.  The  devil,  fire  and  brimstone,  liquid 
death  and  distilled  damnation  figured  conspicuously 
in  the  lurid  sketch.  From  the  heads  of  the  casks  there 
flamed  out  labels  bearing  such  inscriptions  as  "  mur 
der,"  "suicide,"  "arson,"  "soul-destroyer;"  and  the 
devil  and  Wilbar  were  on  high  seats  in  the  counting- 
room,  selling  the  casks  to  drunken  customers.  The 
dream  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  Wilbar  carried  on  a 
lucrative  trade  in  the  business  of  picking  the  pockets 
of  the  poor,  and  putting  them  to  a  lingering  death, 
and  consigning  their  wives  and  children  to  the  alms- 
house  ;  and  it  mentioned  the  names  of  two  of  his  vie- 


TWO    NOVEL    LIBEL    SUITS.  123 

tims  who  had  died  sad  deaths,  and  were  remembered 
in  Taunton.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  these  serious 
charges  enmeshed  the  case  in  embarrassing  difficul 
ties. 

"Wilbar  sued  AVilliams  for  libel,  laying  his  damages 
at  several  thousand  dollars.  Williams  retained  me  as 
his  counsel.  The  plaintiff  was  selling  liquor  without 
a  license.  I  set  up  in  defence  that  the  publication 
was  an  allegory,  and  not  to  be  construed  literally, 
and  that,  so  far  as  it  confined  its  descriptions  and  pic 
torials  to  Wilbar's  business  of  liquor  selling,  he  could 
not  recover  because,  as  he  had  no  license,  he  was  him 
self  violating  the  law,  and  therefore  had  no  standing 
in  court.  The  case  was  tried  in  the  Supreme  Court 
before  Judge  Samuel  Hubbard  and  a  jury.  After  a 
close  contest  of  four  days,  the  court  ruled  with  me  on 
the  law,  and  my  client  got  a  verdict.  The  case  was 
reported,  and  several  thousand  copies  of  the  trial  were 
sold. 

The  next  year  I  appeared  for  the  defendant  in  a 
criminal  prosecution  for  a  similar  libel,  at  New  Lon 
don,  Conn.  It  bristled  with  difficult  points,  but  I  got 
a  verdict  for  my  client.  The  prosecution  was  ably 
conducted  by  District-attorney  John  T.  "Wait,  the  pres 
ent  representative  in  Congress,  and  La  Fayette  S.  Fos 
ter,  afterwards  United  States  Senator,  both  of  Nor 
wich. 

I  could  find  no  reported  case  in  this  country  or 
England  that  covered  the  precise  ground  in  contro 
versy  at  Taunton  and  New  London. 

George  Daniels,  a  slippery  shoe  manufacturer,  had 
for  a  year  or  more  been  in  the  habit  of  making  notes 


124  RANDOM   EECOLLECTIONS. 

payable  to  the  order  of  Alfred  Daniels,  his  wealthy 
brother,  and  then  forging  Alfred's  name  on  the  back 
of  the  notes,  and  passing  them  in  Boston.  George 
absconded,  leaving  notes  to  the  amount  of  some 
$25,000  unpaid  in  the  hands  of  his  victims.  I  brought 
suit  against  Alfred  Daniels  in  a  single  action  on  all 
these  notes,  simply  declaring  against  him  as  endorser 
in  the  usual  form.  Rufus  Choate  was  counsel  with 
me.  The  defence  was  conducted  by  Charles  G.  Lor- 
ing  and  Benjamin  R.  Curtis.  The  latter  was  subse 
quently  appointed  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States.  We  tried  our  case  before  Justice 
Wilde  and  a  jury  at  Boston.  We  proved  that  from 
time  to  time  some  of  the  notes  in  suit  and  others  just 
like  them  had  been  presented  to  Alfred  Daniels,  and 
he  was  asked  if  they  were  "all  right,"  and  that  his 
replies  were  either  evasive  or  that  the  notes  would 
probably  be  looked  after  when  they  became  due.  We 
took  the  ground  that  if  Alfred  Daniels' s  name  was 
forged,  and  he  knew  it,  and  our  clients  did  not,  Alfred 
should  then  and  there  have  exposed  the  forgery,  and 
that  from  his  failure  to  do  this  the  jury  might  infer 
that  Alfred  had  made  George  his  agent  for  passing 
such  notes.  We  could  find  no  case  in  the  books  like 
the  one  at  bar.  But  Judge  Wilde  ruled  for  us.  It 
had  devolved  on  me  to  put  in  the  testimony  during 
the  contest  of  four  days.  Mr.  Choate  argued  the  case 
to  the  jury  with  his  usual  power  and  splendor.  The 
jury  gave  the  plaintiffs  a  verdict. 

I  have  said  that  my  early  acquaintance  with  ma 
chinery  aided  me  in  the  trial  of  patent  suits.  About 
1847,  one  Hovey  and  one  Stevens,  of  Massachusetts, 


B.  F.  IIALLETT. CHARLES    SUMNER.  125 

were  rival  manufacturers  of  a  machine  for  cutting 
straw  by  spiral  blades  or  knives.  The  blades  revolved 
on  their  axis,  and  the  straw  passed  between  them  and 
a  cylinder.  The  blades  had  to  be  ground  so  that 
when  in  motion  they  would  describe  a  perfect  circle. 
There  was  no  patent  on  the  straw-cutter,  but  Hovey 
had  obtained  a  patent  for  a  machine  for  grinding  the 
knives  or  blades.  Impelled  by  sharp  competition, 
Stevens  "pirated"  Hovey's  grinding-machine.  He 
sued  Stevens,  who  applied  to  me  to  defend  him. 
There  was  no  escape  from  heavy  damages  except  to 
invalidate  Hovey's  patent  by  showing  that  he  was 
not  the  first  inventor  of  the  grinding-machine.  I  re 
membered  that  thirty-three  years  before,  in  my  fa 
ther's  woollen  factory  at  Jewett  City,  they  sheared 
broadcloth  with  spiral  knives  or  blades  that  operated 
like  those  in  the  straw-cutter,  and  I  inferred  that  there 
must  have  been  a  machine  for  grinding  them.  I  sent 
Stevens  to  Jewett  City,  where  he  learned  that  such  a 
machine  was  formerly  used  there,  but  some  twenty 
years  since  it  had  been  bought  by  two  men  and  taken 
to  a  factory  at  Hoosick  Falls,  N.  Y.  I  sent  Stevens 
there,  where  he  found  the  tA\ro  men,  who  hunted 
up  in  an  outbuilding  the  dilapidated  and  abandoned 
grinding-machine,  with  the  dried  grit  of  the  stone 
still  adhering  to  it.  It  was  exactly  like  Hovey's  al 
leged  invention.  Stevens  brought  the  antique  to  Bos 
ton,  and  at  the  trial  the  two  men  appeared  as  wit 
nesses.  Under  appropriate  pleadings  the  old  machine 
cut  a  great  figure  in  the  contest.  The  counsel  for 
the  plaintiff  were  Benjamin  F.  Hallett  and  Charles 
Sumner.  The  defence  was  conducted  by  Horace  E. 


126  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Smith  and  myself.  Of  course  we  whipped  them  out 
of  their  boots. 

Mr.  Smith  was  for  some  time  my  partner  at  Bos 
ton.  For  several  years  past  he  has  been  the  accom 
plished  dean  of  the  Albany  Law-school.  Joel  Pren- 
tiss  Bishop,  of  Boston,  the  widely-known  author  of 
valuable  treatises  on  the  law,  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
while  a  student  in  my  office.  He  was  at  home  in  a 
library  of  rare  old  law-books. 

Mr.  Sumner  had  read  many  volumes  of  law,  and 
written  some  learned  annotations  thereon.  But  he 
seemed  to  have  little  taste  for  the  sharp  conflicts  of 
the  forum,  where  the  enduring  laurels  of  an  exacting 
profession  are  won.  If  he  tendered  "  sage  counsel  in 
cumber,"  he  carried  not  the  "red  hand  in  the  foray." 
Though  he  studied  patent  law  at  the  feet  of  Judge 
Story,  he  was  not  expert  in  comprehending  and  ap 
plying  those  mechanical  principles  which  are  so  fre 
quently  involved  in  cases  that  arise  in  that  depart 
ment.  He  acted  wisely,  therefore,  when  he  retired 
from  the  bar,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  delivery  of 
orations  on  the  platform  and  speeches  in  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Hallet,  who  led  for  the  plaintiff  in  the  trial 
above  mentioned,  was  a  wiry,  pertinacious  advocate. 
He  was  not  familiar  with  the  intricacies  of  patent  law, 
and  handled  mechanical  principles  very  clumsily ;  but 
he  was  a  sturdy  opponent  to  grapple  with  even  when 
he  was  on  the  weaker  side.  This  was  partly  due  to 
the  fact  that  his  cuticle  was  unusually  thick.  For  a 
while  he  conducted  a  newspaper  in  Boston,  and  cham 
pioned  some  valuable  reforms.  He  subsequently  be 
came  an  active  Democrat,  and  President  Pierce  ap- 


JOHN    P.   HALE.  127 

pointed  him  United  States  Attorney  for  the  District 
of  Massachusetts. 

John  P.  Hale  is  not  so  well  known  as  a  lawyer  as 
a  Free-soil  Senator.  In  his  younger  days,  however, 
he  was  prominent  at  the  New  Hampshire  bar,  and  in 
later  years  occasionally  led  in  the  trial  of  important 
causes  at  Boston. 

One  of  the  boldest  of  the  early  blows  against  the 
slave  power  from  a  public  man  was  struck  by  Hale  in 
New  Hampshire  in  1844.  He  was  in  Congress,  and 
was  the  regular  Democratic  candidate  for  re-election. 
The  pending  issue  was  the  annexation  of  Texas.  First 
in  a  pungent  letter,  and  then  in  a  powerful  speech,  he 
declared  against  annexation.  The  leaders  of  the  De 
mocracy  rose  upon  him,  and  the  state  was  soon  all 
aflame.  I  went  up  from  Boston  to  help  the  robust 
rebel.  After  a  long  struggle  Hale  was  defeated  for 
Congress,  but  Dover  sent  him  to  the  Legislature,  and 
his  services  in  the  Free-soil  cause  were  soon  rewarded 
by  his  election  to  the  United  States  Senate. 

Hale  was  a  novice  in  Anti-slavery  literature,  and  I 
assisted  in  preparing  two  or  three  of  his  early  speech 
es  in  the  Senate.  He  was  indolent,  a  brilliant  de- 
claimer,  but  an  indifferent  reasoner.  Surrounded  by 
foes,  it  was  his  proverbial  jollity  that  protected  him 
from  assault.  He  bubbled  over  with  wit  and  humor. 
I  entered  his  room  at  Washington  one  warm  evening, 
where  an  inextinguishable  coal  fire,  fed  by  a  stupid 
servant,  had  run  the  thermometer  up  to  about  one 
hundred  degrees.  He  was  stripped  to  his  skin ;  the 
perspiration  was  dripping  from  his  chin ;  a  great  pile 
of  documents  was  before  him,  which  he  was  industri- 


128  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

ously  franking.     Putting  out  his  hand,  he  said, "  This 
is  the  penalty  paid  for  greatness." 

He  told  me  this  fact,  which  illustrates  a  peculiarity 
of  that  extraordinary  man,  Theodore  Parker.  In  a 
trial  in  the  Federal  Court  at  Boston  which  grew  out 
of  the  famous  attempt  to  rescue  by  force  a  fugitive 
slave  from  the  clutches  of  the  law,  Hale  was  counsel 
for  Mr.  Parker,  and  for  two  weeks  his  guest.  Twice 
each  day  Parker  had  baked  fish  served  (with  no  meat), 
because  this  diet  furnished,  as  he  said,  phosphorus 
for  the  brain.  It  was  his  ordinary  custom  to  have 
baked  fish  only  once  daily,  but,  to  meet  the  strain  of 
the  trial,  Hale,  who  hated  fish  in  any  form,  was  re 
quired  to  lay  in  a  supply  of  phosphorus  at  every 
breakfast  and  dinner  while  the  legal  conflict  lasted. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

The  Law. — Bench  and  Bar  of  the  Empire  State. — Kent,  Spencer, 
and  other  Eminent  Jurists. — Four  Great  Lawyers  of  Columbia 
County. — The  Power  of  Elisha  Williams  over  a  Jury. — Henry 
R.  Storrs. — Lawyers  and  Trials  at  Rochester.— Selleck  Bough- 
ton. — Jesse  Hawley,  the  Land  Surveyor,  Foreshadowing  the  Erio 
Canal. — Charles  M.  Lee.— General  "Mad"  Anthony  Wayne's 
Storming  of  Stony  Point  Saves  a  Counterfeiter  from  the  State 
Prison. — John  Griffin,  the  Rough  Judge  of  Allegheny  County, 
Sits  down  on  a  Dandy  Attorney.  —  Alvan  Stewart.  —  Some 
Albany  Lawyers. — The  Famous  Firm  of  Hill,  Porter,  &  Cag- 
gar.  —  Quirk,  Gammon,  &  Snap. — Eseck  Cowan's  Rare  Law 
Library.— Marcus  T.Reynolds.— Samuel  Stevens. — Daniel  Cady. 
— Joshua  A.  Spencer. 

I  HAVE  always  felt  at  home  with  the  judges  and 
lawyers  of  the  state  of  New  York,  for  it  was  with 
them  that  I  first  began  to  be  acquainted  sixty  years 
ago. 

The  old  Supreme  Court,  the  Court  of  Errors,  and 
the  Court  of  Appeals,  in  the  opinions  pronounced  by 
Kent,  Spencer,  Thompson,  Nelson,  Cowen,  Sutherland, 
Bronson,  Denio,  and  their  associates,  illuminated  all 
branches  of  the  law  in  a  style  worthy  of  the  best  ef 
forts  of  Mansfield  and  Marshall.  The  decisions  of 
the  courts  of  New  York  have,  from  the  first  volume 
of  Johnson  downward,  held  superior  rank  in  the  judi 
cial  tribunals  of  the  Union,  and  have  been  quoted 
with  approbation  at  London,  Paris,  and  Berlin.  In 
1814,  James  Kent,  the  new  chancellor,  took  his  seat 


130  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

in  one  of  the  small  rooms  of  the  capitol.  Throwing 
its  doors  wide  open,  he  caused  the  proceedings  of  the 
court  to  be  regularly  reported,  and  thus  poured  a 
flood  of  light  along  the  track  of  equity  jurisprudence 
in  this  country.  It  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to 
give  the  names  of  the  great  lawyers  of  New  York 
who  have  aided  the  bench  in  erecting  its  judicial  sys 
tem  on  solid  foundations.  The  bench,  of  course,  has 
been  selected  from  the  bar.  Besides  this,  the  profes 
sion  in  New  York  has  furnished  one  chief -just  ice  and 
five  associate  justices  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  and  five  attorney-generals. 

I  have  before  me  a  rapidly  prepared  and  imperfect 
ly  presented  article  on  this  subject,  which  appeared 
in  the  appendix  to  the  eighteenth  volume  of  Bar- 
bour's  New  York  Supreme  Court  Reports.  Perhaps 
it  will  repay  perusal. 

Columbia  County  was  the  birthplace  of  four  distin 
guished  lawyers — Elisha  Williams,  Daniel  Cady, Will 
iam  W.  Yan  Ness,  and  Martin  Yan  Buren.  I  listened 
to  them  all  except  Judge  Yan  Ness,  who  had  a  great 
reputation  for  a  peculiar  style  of  attractive  eloquence, 
though  Williams  was  his  superior  before  a  jury.  This 
scene  was  described  to  me  by  Mr.  Cady,  but  so  long 
ago  that  it  has  somewhat  faded  in  my  memory.  He 
was  junior  counsel  with  Williams,  who  led  for  the 
plaintiff  in  a  trial  which  involved  a  large  tract  of 
land  bordering  on  the  Hudson  River.  The  plaintiff's 
recovery  depended  on  sustaining  the  correctness  of  a 
line  run  by  two  surveyors,  just  after  the  Revolution 
ary  War,  in  which  they  had  won  honor  as  officers. 
At  the  time  of  the  trial  they  had  been  dead  about 


ELISHA    WILLIAMS    BEFORE    A   JURY.  131 

twenty  years,  but  their  memory  was  revered  in  the 
counties  along  the  Hudson. 

In  addressing  the  jury,  the  defendant's  counsel  ve 
hemently  denounced  the  two  officers,  attacking  at 
great  length  their  capacity  as  surveyors  and  their 
characters  as  men.  And  now  came  TTilliams's  turn 
to  reply.  The  court-room  was  so  densely  packed,  es 
pecially  near  the  door,  that  the  audience  reached  down 
the  stairs  into  the  street.  Williams  vindicated  the 
two  surveyors  and  scathed  their  traducer  in  glowing 
terms,  or,  as  Mr.  Cady  called  it,  in  "  thunder-clap  elo 
quence."  He  referred  to  their  unblemished  reputa 
tion,  their  services  in  the  struggle  for  independence, 
and  described  their  personal  appearance  and  the  mil 
itary  uniform  they  had  worn  in  the  field.  He  wished 
they  could  be  there,  and  take  the  stand,  and  confound 
their  assailant.  The  audience  had  been  wrought  up 
to  the  highest  pitch,  when  Williams,  assuming  a  slow, 
solemn  air,  said,  amid  breathless  silence :  "  The  im 
posing  figures  of  the  revered  patriots  rise  before  me ; 
I  feel  the  approach  of  their  awful  presence."  Lower 
ing  his  voice  and  bowing  his  head  as  if  listening,  he 
continued,  "  I  hear  their  footsteps  on  the  stairs.  They 
will  take  the  witness-box  and  speak  for  themselves." 
Then  suddenly  turning  towards  the  stairs,  and  wav 
ing  his  hand,  he  exclaimed,  in  a  thrilling  tone,  "  Make 
way  for  them!  They  come!  They  come!"  The 
crowd  around  the  door  opened  to  the  right  and  left, 
and  the  twelve  jurors  rose  and  stood  on  tiptoe  to  see 
two  men  enter  the  court-room  who  had  been  in  their 
graves  twenty  years. 

I  heard  this  great  advocate  try  an  important  cause 


132  KANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

at  Eochester  as  early  as  about  1828.  The  opposing 
counsel  was  Henry  E.  Storrs  of  Oneida,  who  was  rap 
idly  advancing  to  the  front  rank  of  the  profession. 
It  was  a  contest  between  giants.  Each  possessed  rare 
oratorical  gifts.  Storrs  was  the  more  wary  and  argu 
mentative  ;  Williams,  the  more  extravagant  and  im 
passioned. 

Anecdotes  of  minor  lawyers  illustrate  the  vicis 
situdes  of  the  profession  quite  as  well  as  elaborate 
sketches  of  its  eminent  members.  When  I  was  clerk 
of  the  courts  in  Eochester,  Selleck  Boughton  was  one 
of  the  queerest  practitioners  at  the  Monroe  bar.  He 
had  been  a  constable,  was  turning  gray,  dressed  like 
a  scullion,  weighed  about  one  hundred  pounds,  chewed 
a  whole  paper  of  tobacco  at  once,  had  studied  law  in 
a  narrow  sphere,  wielded  a  sharp  metaphysical  mind, 
and  would  stand  and  split  hairs  from  morning  till 
night.  A  fellow  was  indicted  for  trespassing  on  lands, 
and  Boughton  defended  him.  Of  course  the  title  to 
the  lands  was  in  question.  Jesse  Hawley,  an  old  citi 
zen  of  Eochester,  was  a  surveyor  of  high  repute,  and 
had  run  the  lines  of  most  of  the  tracts  in  that  region. 
Even  before  De  Witt  Clinton  had  fully  conceived  the 
idea,  Mr.  Hawley  wrote  a  series  of  articles  in  a  Can- 
andaigua  newspaper  in  support  of  the  feasibility  of 
constructing  a  canal  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Hudson 
Eiver.  He  was  a  witness  for  the  prosecution  on  the 
trial  I  have  mentioned,  and  his  testimony  pressed 
hard  on  the  defendant.  Boughton  objecte'd  to  every 
question  put  to  Hawley  by  the  district  attorney, 
and  argued  .each  objection  at  an  interminable  length, 
Hawley  meanwhile  resting.  There  was  plenty  of 


BOUGHTON. HAWLEY. LEE.  133 

quaint  humor  in  Ilawley's  mental  composition.  Dur 
ing  one  of  Boughton's  speeches  the  badgered  witness 
slid  into  a  seat  by  me.  "  At  the  Day  of  Judgment," 
said  he,  "I  intend  to  get  my  case  put  on  the  calendar 
right  below  Selleck  Boughton's.  I  shall  never  be 
placed  in  peril,  for  when  he  is  on  trial  he  will  stand 
and  object  to  all  eternity." 

Charles  M.  Lee,  who  figured  at  the  Rochester  bar 
at  the  same  time  with  Boughton,  exhibited  a  vocif 
erous  style  of  oratory  that  made  a  deep  impression 
upon  bucolic  jurors  from  the  rural  towns.  A  revolu 
tionary  soldier  was  indicted  for  passing  counterfeit 
money.  He  had  followed  General  "  Mad  "  Anthony 
Wayne  up  the  craggy  steep  of  Stony  Point,  on  the 
Hudson,  in  the  dark  night  of  July  16, 1779,  when  that 
fortress  was  carried  by  storm.  Lee  defended  the 
silver-haired  veteran  on  his  trial.  The  evidence  against 
him  was  clear,  and  there  was  not  a  shadow  of  doubt 
of  his  guilt.  Lee  summed  up  the  case  with  rare  ve 
hemence,  graphically  described  the  bloody  attack  on 
Stony  Point,  and  with  tears  dripping  down  his  cheeks 
implored  the  jury  to  acquit  the  old  soldier.  So  plain 
was  the  case  for  the  people  that  the  district  attorney 
spoke  barely  ten  minutes.  It  was  not  then  known 
that  the  father  of  the  foreman  of  the  jury  had  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  defendant  in  the  peril 
ous  night  when  Wayne  captured  the  British  strong 
hold.  The  jury  were  out  an  hour.  When  they  re 
turned  the  clerk  said,  "  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  have 
you  agreed  upon  a  verdict  ?"  "  We  have,"  replied  the 
foreman.  u  Do  you  find  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  guil 
ty,  or  not  guilty  2"  "  Not  guilty,  because  he  helped 
to  storm  Stony  Point !"  shouted  the  foreman. 


134  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

In  those  early  days  justice  in  that  portion  of  the 
country  was  sometimes  administered  with  a  rough 
hand.  John  Griffin  was  First  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  in  Allegheny  County,  then  a  rude  fron 
tier  settlement.  In  size  and  manner  he  was  a  proto 
type  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  dressed  shabbily,  was 
a  good  lawyer,  and  carried  a  clear  head  on  his  shoul 
ders.  I  was  summoned  to  Judge  Griffin's  court  as  a 
witness,  with  some  records  from  the  Monroe  Clerk's 
Office,  in  a  case  where  certified  copies  would  not  an 
swer  the  purpose.  One  of  the  counsel  Avas  a  loqua 
cious  young  limb  of  the  law,  of  small  stature,  from 
another  county,  who  dressed  like  a  dude  of  the  pres 
ent  era.  He  raised  objections  at  every  step  in  the 
trial,  which  the  grim  judge  invariably  overruled, 
whereupon  the  pert  attorney  would  keep  on  arguing, 
and  wind  up  by  expressing  his  regret  for  feeling  com 
pelled  to  differ  with  his  honor.  The  judge  endured 
this  for  about  the  tenth  time,  when,  at  the  close  of  an 
unusually  ridiculous  episode,  Griffin  asked  the  dandy 
if  he  was  through  talking  on  that  point.  He  said  he 
was.  "  Sit  down,  then,  and  shut  your  mouth,  you 

little  d d  fool!"  responded  the  judge,  in  a  loud 

voice,  and  with  a  blow  on  the  bench  that  made  the 
lawyer's  head  swim. 

I  hardly  dare  lift  my  pen  in  an  attempt  to  outline 
the  commanding  figure  of  Alvan  Stewart  as  a  law 
yer,  for  my  personal  knowledge  of  his  marvellous 
victories  in  a  field  where  he  shone  conspicuously  as 
a  leader  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  was  quite  lim 
ited.  Moreover,  his  participation  in  the  Anti-slavery 
conflict,  when  I  was  fighting  by  his  side,  naturally 


ALT  AN    STEWART ALBANY    LAWYERS.  135 

tended  to  eclipse  in  my  eye  his  earlier  fame  at  the 
bar.  I  knew  enough  of  him,  however,  to  say  that  he 
was  an  unusually  well-read  lawyer,  had  studied  the 
profession  as  a  science,  and  in  some  lines  of  the  prac 
tice,  especially  before  juries,  he  had  no  superior  in 
central  New  York.  His  quaint  humor  was  equal  to 
his  profound  learning.  He  was  skilled  in  a  peculiar 
and  indescribable  kind  of  argumentation,  wit,  and  sar 
casm  that  made  him  remarkably  successful  in  "  laugh 
ing  a  case  out  of  court ;"  and  lucky  would  it  be  for 
the  opposing  counsel  if  he  did  not  have  to  go  out  with 
his  case.  Even  to  the  present  day  the  dozen  counties 
around  Otsego  and  Oneida  are  fertile  in  traditions  of 
the  forensic  triumphs  of  Mr.  Stewart  in  every  depart 
ment  of  the  law.  I  never  saw  this  extraordinary  man 
try  an  action  in  court,  but  before  Anti-slavery  con 
ventions  in  several  states  I  heard  him  argue  grave 
and  intricate  constitutional  questions  with  consum 
mate  ability. 

Though  Albany  has  always  been  the  judicial  centre 
of  the  state,  it  was  more  exclusively  such  prior  to  the 
Constitution  of  1846  than  it  has  since  been.  Even 
for  a  considerable  time  after  the  adoption  of  that  in 
strument  it  continued  to  be  the  chief  seat  of  this  de 
partment  of  the  government.  This  kept  in  practice 
at  Albany,  during  the  lirst  sixty  years  of  the  present 
century,  a  body  of  lawyers  who  had  no  superiors  at 
the  New  York  bar.  Whoever  looks  through  the  re 
ports  of  Johnson,  Cowen,  Wendell,  Hill,  Denio,  and 
some  of  the  later  authors,  will  find  them  liberally 
sprinkled  with  the  names  of  Albany  lawyers  that  ap 
peared  as  counsel  in  the  cases.  For  the  latter  half  of 


136  EANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

this  period  I  knew  many  of  these  lawyers,  and  some 
of  them  intimately.  I  heard  before  courts  and  juries 
the  foremost  in  this  long  procession  of  learned  and 
eloquent  advocates,  from  Abraham  Yan  Yechten  to 
Nicholas  Hill.  There  is  space  to  refer  to  only  a  few 
of  them. 

In  the  later  stages  of  this  cycle  one  of  the  ablest 
law  firms  in  Albany  was  composed  of  Nicholas  Hill, 
John  K.  Porter,  and  Peter  Cagger.  They  did  a  busi 
ness  so  extensive  that  it  brought  them  in  contact 
with,  the  profession  all  over  the  state.  Hill  had  been 
trained  in  the  office  of  Eseck  Cowen,  at  Saratoga 
Springs.  Cowen  certainly  had  the  largest  law  library 
in  the  state,  and  probably  in  the  Union.  I  think  it 
was  Hill  who  told  me  that  Cowen  possessed  a  copy 
of  every  law  book  issued  by  an  American  author 
(Statutes  not  included)  except  one,  and  that  he  had 
ransacked  the  country  to  find  the  missing  work.  Af 
ter  Judge  Cowen  left  the  Supreme  Bench  Hill  brought 
a  liberal  selection  of  his  books  to  Albany. 

Nicholas  Hill  was  one  of  the  most  profound  and 
successful  counsellors  that  ever  appeared  before  the 
court  in  'banco  in  New  York.  The  members  of  its 
highest  tribunal  had  entire  respect  for  his  opinions. 
He  was  the  embodiment  of  lucid  logic,  though  per 
haps  rather  too  refined  in  his  methods  of  reasoning 
for  the  comprehension  of  minds  of  ordinary  mould. 
Mr.  Porter  was  an  ornate  orator,  as  smooth  as  oil  in 
his  diction,  picturesque  and  dramatic  at  times,  and 
wielded  great  sway  over  juries,  whether  summoned 
from  the  Capitoline  precincts  or  the  Helderberg  hills. 
Mr.  Cagger,  his  veins  pulsating  with  the  warmest 


HILL,  PORTEK,  &    CAGGEK.  137 

Celtic  blood,  went  off  in  the  court-room  like  a  hair- 
trigger  on  the  duelling-ground.  An  attorney  who 
hoped  to  circumvent  Cagger's  moving  affidavits  on  a 
motion  at  Chambers  needed  a  keen  eye,  a  sharp  pen, 
and  a  facile  client. 

Everybody  in  Albany  knew  Hill,  Porter,  and  Cag- 
ger,  at  least  by  sight.  At  the  time  of  the  occurrence 
which  I  am  now  to  describe  their  offices  were  on  the 
second  floor  of  a  building  in  State  Street.  In  the 
room  above  was  a  photographer's  establishment. 
Specimens  of  the  artist's  work  were  displayed  at  the 
foot  of  the  wide  stairs  by  the  sidewalk — the  stairs 
that  led  up  to  the  law-offices.  As  a  captivating  ad 
vertisement  of  his  vocation  (then  quite  new)  the  pho 
tographer  hung  up  a  large  plate  in  the  vestibule  con 
taining  admirable  likenesses  of  Hill,  Porter,  and  Cag- 
ger,  the  two  former  sitting  in  chairs,  and  the  latter 
standing  behind  them  with  a  hand  on  the  shoulder  of 
each.  The  picture  was  so  perfect,  and  the  counte 
nances  of  the  three  so  characteristic,  that  their  friends 
laughed  to  look  at  it.  The  famous  novel  of  Warren, 
the  English  barrister,  entitled  "  Ten  Thousand  a  Year," 
wherein  are  depicted  the  arts,  the  loquacities,  and  the 
rascalities  of  the  law-firm  of  "Quirk,  Gammon,  & 
Snap,"  was  then  in  the  hands  of  everybody  that  read 
novels.  Many  American  lawyers  that  rarely  looked 
into  works  of  fiction  were  laughing  and  crying  over 
"  Ten  Thousand  a  Year,"  alternately  sneering  at  the 
metaphysical  blockhead  Quirk,  detesting  the  oily  hyp 
ocrite  Gammon,  and  despising  the  sharp  rogue  Snap. 
One  night  a  wag  procured  a  printed  label  containing 
the  words  "  Quirk,  Gammon,  &  Snap,"  and  slipped 


138  RANDOM    KECOLLECTIOXS. 

it  into  the  picture  that  bore  the  familiar  likenesses  of 
Hill,  Porter,  and  Cagger.  The  next  morning  the  three 
lawyers  (taking  an  old  friend  along)  reached  the  en 
trance  to  their  offices  in  company.  An  amused  crowd 
cumbered  the  sidewalk.  The  lawyers  pushed  through. 
Cagger' s  eye  fell  on  the  label.  He  exploded  with  an 
ger.  "  It  was  an  outrage !  A  detective  should  ferret 
out  the  perpetrator,  and  he  should  be  criminally  pros 
ecuted  for  libel !  The  photographer  must  instantly 
throw  the  thing  into  the  street !"  Porter  seemed  to 
be  meditating  points  in  the  eloquent  speech  he  could 
make  to  a  jury  in  a  civil  action  for  damages.  Mean 
while  the  philosophic  Hill  stood,  with  folded  arms, 
looking  at  the  picture.  Soon  he  burst  into  a  laugh 
that  shook  him  from  head  to  foot.  "  No !"  said  he, 
"  not  a  bit  of  it !  It  shall  remain  as  it  is.  It  is  the 
most  capital  hit  I  ever  heard  of.  It  describes  us  ex 
actly.  It  is  the  best  advertisement  we  shall  have  in 
years.  Let  it  stand." 

I  cannot  do  justice  to  that  wittiest  and  most  sarcas 
tic  of  advocates,  Marcus  T.  Reynolds,  nor  to  Samuel 
Stevens,  who  had  few  equals  as  a  special  pleader  un 
der  the  old  practice,  and  at  a  later  period  excelled  as 
a  patent  lawyer.  I  witnessed  an  amusing  scene  be 
tween  Reynolds  and  Stevens  before  Chief -justice  Sam 
uel  Nelson.  They  were  arguing  a  motion.  The  pa 
pers  had  come  to  each  from  remote  country  attorneys. 
Reynolds  possessed  an  extraordinary  measure  of  im 
perturbable  self-possession.  In  the  hurry  of  the  mo 
ment  he  had  scarcely  glanced  at  his  papers,  and  he 
caught  a  wrong  idea  as  to  the  side  on  which  he  was 
retained.  He  opened,  and  in  his  terse  and  pointed  style 


REYNOLDS. STEVENS. CADY. SPENCER.  139 

was  arguing  effectively  against  his  own  client.  Ste 
vens  stared  at  him,  looked  at  his  papers  to  make  sure 
that  he  himself  had  not  made  a  mistake,  and  then 
listened,  and  again  stared  at  Reynolds.  The  strange 
manner  of  his  antagonist  arrested  the  attention  of 
Reynolds  just  as  he  was  about  to  close  his  opening, 
and  he  took  a  steady  look  at  his  papers,  and  saw  that 
he  was  speaking  on  the  wrong  side.  Without  the 
slightest  change  of  countenance,  and  with  perfect 
coolness  of  manner,  he  said,  "  Your  honor,  I  have 
been  tracing  in  the  clearest  language  I  can  command 
the  line  of  argument  that  my  learned  opponent  will 
no  doubt  pursue,  and  I  shall  now  proceed  to  show 
how  utterly  futile  and  untenable  it  is."  He  then  de 
livered  an  unusually  powerful  address  in  behalf  of  his 
own  client,  and  left  Stevens  to  take  care  of  his  side  of 
the  case  as  he  pleased. 

Daniel  Cady  appeared  so  often  in  the  courts  at  the 
state  capital  that  he  might  fairly  be  called  an  Albany 
lawyer.     He  went  to  the  roots  of  every  case  he  tried 
or  argued.     He  dealt  little  in  rhetorical  embellish 
ments,  but  wielded  a  ponderous  logic  that  ground 
adversaries  to  powder.     Unless  his  case  were  utterly 
hopeless  he  always  came  off  victor  in  the  hand-to- 
hand  conflicts  at  Nisi  Priiis.     Joshua  A.  Spencer, 
of  Utica,  an  accomplished  advocate,  whose  name  is 
sprinkled  all  through  the  reports,  told  me  he  had  tried 
two  hundred  jury  cases  against  Mr.  Cady,  and  that 
i  whenever  he  succeeded  in  winning  a  verdict  from  his 
i  secretive,  wary  adversary,  he  never  felt  sure  that  a 
i  mine  was  not  to  be  sprung  under  him  and  engulf  him, 
until  he  had  obtained  from  the  clerk  a  certified  copy  of 


14:0  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  verdict,  and  the  court  had  adjourned  for  the  day. 
Mr.  Stevens,  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  argued  appeals  in 
banco  with  an  amplitude  of  learning  and  logic  second 
only  to  Nicholas  Hill.  A  suit  for  libel  between  two 
surgeons,  wherein  Cady  and  Stevens  were  counsel  for 
the  bitter  belligerents,  had  at  last  reached  the  Court 
of  Errors,  after  passing  through  a  long  series  of  cir 
cumlocutions  in  the  lower  tribunals  that  covered  sev 
eral  years.  -Mr.  Stevens  argued  for  the  appellants, 
consuming  a  day.  Mr.  Gady  replied,  and,  as  my  in 
formant  said,  he  took  Stevens  up  by  the  collar  in  the 
first  sentence,  and  never  let  his  feet  touch  the  carpet 
for  four  hours. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Law. — The  Corning  and  Burden  Spike  Case.  —  Seward, 
Blatcbford,  and  Stevens  Counsel. — Reuben  H.  Walworth,  Ref 
eree. — Jarndyce  vs.  Jarndyce. — Clients  Erect  Federal  Buildings 
at  Buffalo  and  Oswego,  and  Sue  the  Government.  —  Speaker 
Grow,  R.  E.  Fenton,  and  William  Steele  Holman  Intervene. — 
Captain  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  and  the  Fist  Fight. — His  Son, 
Cornelius  Jeremiah,  is  Sued,  and  Blows  his  Brains  out. — The 
Controversy  over  the  Commodore's  Will. — The  Spencers. — 
John  C.  Spencer. — His  Acute  Legal  Mind. — Interview  with  his 
Son,  who  was  Executed  for  Alleged  Mutiny  on  Board  The 
Somers. —  Chief -justice  Ambrose  Spencer.  —  John  C.  Spencer 
Concocts  the  Canal  Bill  of  1851. 

AFTER  I  removed  from  Boston  to  Seneca  Falls,  in 
1. 847,  I  became  associated  in  the  famous  suit  of  the 
Burden  Company  against  the  Corning  Company  of 
Troy  and  Albany,  brought  for  an  alleged  violation 
:)f  the  patent  of  the  former  by  the  latter  for  the  man- 
ifacture  of  hook-headed  spikes,  used  for  fastening  T 
•ails  to  ties  on  railroad  tracks.  The  case  had  been 
carried  on  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  at  Washing- 
on,  which  had  given  a  decision  in  favor  of  the  plain- 
iffs,  and  had  issued  the  usual  order  to  the  Circuit 
Jourt  in  Kew  York  to  enter  final  judgment  for  the 
plaintiffs,  and  then  send  it  to  a  master,  to  take  an 
ijiccount  of  the  damages  and  fix  the  amount  thereof, 
^awyers  will  understand  this  line  of  proceedings. 

The  case  had  been  a  long  time  reaching  this  point, 
ipamuel  Stevens,  my  associate,  was  leading  counsel 


142  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

for  the  plaintiffs,  and  Governor  Seward  for  the  de 
fendants,  with  whom  was  Samuel  Blatchford.  We 
tried  in  vain  for  a  good  while  to  agree  upon  some  one 
to  take  the  account.  Judge  Samuel  Nelson,  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  finally  referred  the  matter  to  ex- 
Chancellor  Wai  worth.  And  now  commenced  a  series 
of  interminable  delays,  which  threw  Jarndyce  vs. 
Jarndyce,  of  Bleak  House  fame,  quite  into  the  shade. 
Burden,  an  ardent  man,  believed  the  proceedings 
would  be  closed  in  three  months,  and  that,  as  the  de 
fendants  had  made  an  enormous  amount  of  spikes, 
the  plaintiffs  would  be  awarded  at  least  $250,000 
damages.  Alas!  Burden  had  not  carefully  studied 
Jarndyce  or  Walworth. 

The  case  went  on,  it  stood  still,  it  went  on,  it  stood 
still,  till  all  the  original  counsel  were  frozen  out  of 
it  or  had  died.  But  the  tough  ex-chancellor,  who 
was  drawing  heavy  fees  as  he  went  along,  was  like 
Jefferson's  Federalist  office-holders — he  neither  died 
nor  resigned.  And  so  the  }rears  rolled  away  till  the 
constantly  accumulating  testimony  reached  tens  of 
thousands  of  folios,  and  being  put  in  print  from  time 
to  time  filled  many  great  volumes.  An  incident  or 
two  will  illustrate  the  mode  of  taking  evidence.  The 
ex-chancellor  held  the  reference  in  his  office  in  Sara- 3 
toga,  where  all  the  witnesses  appeared.  One  witness 
came  from  Troy,  and  was  sworn.  At  Saratoga  he 
became  acquainted  with  a  young  lady,  married  her,1 
and  was  a  father  before  he  left  the  stand.  Another 
witness  Avas  sworn.  Burden  saw  him  well  under  way, 
and  then  sailed  for  Europe  to  take  out  certain  pat 
ents  in  foreign  countries.  He  travelled  extensively 


REUBEN    HYDE    WALWORTH.  3 

for  this  purpose  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Conti 
nent,  and  after  an  absence  of  several  months  he  re 
turned  and  found  the  same  witness  still  testifying. 
These  facts  will  serve  as  specimens.  After  wasting 
years  on  the  case,  Walworth  decided  that  the  plain 
tiffs  were  not  entitled  to  recover  any  damages  what 
ever.  An  appeal  was  taken  from  this  decision,  and 
what  then  became  of  the  matter  I  do  not  knowr. 

Walworth  for  nineteen  years  occupied  the  seat 
which  James  Kent  had  adorned.  He  was  a  night 
mare  on  the  jurisprudence  of  New  York.  One  of  the 
moving  causes  for  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
:  of  1846  was  to  rid  the  state  of  the  Court  of  Chancery 
and  of  Eeuben  Hyde  Walworth  as  Chancellor. 

Clients  of  mine  erected  for  the  federal  govern 
ment  at  Buffalo  and  Oswego  buildings  for  post-offices, 
custom-houses,  and  other  purposes.  In  1855-56  I 
brought  suit  for  damages  in  the  Court  of  Claims  for 
violation  of  our  contracts.  The  government  fought 
desperately,  and  the  conflict  was  long  and  weary. 
The  court  awrarded  my  clients  $36,000.  I  took  the 
case  to  Congress,  which  increased  the  award  to  about 
$80,000.  This  ivas  the  only  case  in  which  Congress  ever 
increased  an  aioard  of  that  court.  The  amount  we  ob 
tained  was  fair  and  just.  The  government,  without 
the  slightest  regard  to  the  merits  of  the  case,  first 
threw  the  weight  of  its  influence  against  us  in  the 
court,  and  then  in  both  the  Senate  and  the  House. 
My  success  in  Congress  wras  mainly  owing  to  Reuben 
E.  Fenton,  William  S.  Holman,  and  Speaker  Galusha 
A.  Grow,  while  I  received  valuable  aid  from  Senator 
Daniel  Clark,  of  New  Hampshire. 


144  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

In  the  summer  of  1838  or  1830  I  took  passage  at 
New  York  on  a  Yanderbilt  steamboat  plying  through 
Long  Island  Sound.  A  Southern  gentleman  with  a 
colored  chattel  and  a  large  trunk  in  his  train  violated 
the  rules  by  putting  the  trunk  in  his  stateroom.  Soon 
after  passing  Hell  Gate  the  deckmaster  pulled  the 
trunk  out.  A  scuffle  ensued,  and  the  Southerner 
seized  the  deckmaster  by  the  collar,  the  negro  lower 
ing  darkly  in  a  corner  as  a  reserved  corps.  A  crowd 
of  passengers  were  spectators  of  this  sharp  tussle,  in 
which  the  Yanderbilt  forces  were  getting  worsted. 
Suddenly  a  well-knit  man  dashed  into  the  ring  with 
a  battle-cry  that  sounded  exactly  like  swearing.  In 
an  instant  his  coat  was  off  and  his  fists  doubled.  Just 
at  this  point  the  colored  contingent  wheeled  into 
line.  The  new-comer  dealt  a  blow  that  set  the  ne 
gro  spinning,  and  then  moved  at  double-quick  on 
the  Southerner's  works.  The  affair  was  rapidly  ap 
proaching  the  precincts  of  a  rough-and-tumble  fight 
between  the  four  combatants  when  the  passengers  in 
tervened  and  proposed  an  adjournment.  The  motion 
was  carried.  The  trunk  remained  outside  the  state 
room,  and  the  other  chattel  retired  to  repair  his  nose. 
This  was  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  Captain  Cornelius 
Yanderbilt. 

About  forty  years  after  this  I  was  retained  to  col 
lect  for  a  client  a  just  debt  of  §10,000  from  Cornelius 
Jeremiah  Yanderbilt,  a  son  of  the  commodore,  which 
had  somehow  become  mixed  in  the  contest  over  the 
commodore's  estate.  Patient  negotiations  having 
failed  to  secure  a  settlement,  I  brought  suit  against  C. 
J.  Yanderbilt  to  recover  the  debt.  The  summons  was 


THE    VANDEEBILTS. THE    SPENCERS.  145 

served  in  the  morning,  and  in  the  evening  of  the 
same  day  lie  blew  his  brains  out.  Poor  Cornelius ! 
He  had  generous  qualities,  and  in  mien  and  manners 
was  a  closer  copy  of  his  father  than  were  any  of  the 
other  children.  The  effort  to  collect  this  debt  brought 
me  unwillingly  into  the  possession  of  a  mass  of  so- 
called  facts  concerning  the  famous  controversy  about 
the  commodore's  will,  some  of  which  were  true  and 
some  of  which  were  false.  They  abounded  in  the 
dramatic,  and  contained  materials  for  more  than  one 
tragedy,  comedy,  and  novel.  I  shall  not  soil  these 
pages  with  any  of  this  scandalous  matter.  The  fam 
ily  fight  of  these  coarse-grained  people  over  the  old 
commodore's  dead  body  was  one  of  the  most  unsavory 
in  the  annals  of  American  litigation.  Four  of  the 
conspicuous  characters  in  that  conflict  have  since 
gone  to  that  undiscovered  country  from  whose  bourne 
no  traveller  returns.  It  required  all  the  learning, 
skill,  and  forbearance  of  Mr.  Surrogate  Calvin  to  hold 
the  scales  of  justice  with  an  even  hand  among  the 
fierce  combatants. 

In  January,  1841,  on  my  return  from  Europe,  I  was 
on  the  way  to  Rochester.  One  of  my  chance  travel 
ling  companions  was  a  son  of  John  C.  Spencer.  We 
stopped  overnight  at  Geneva,  and  Spencer  brought 
down  from  Hobart  College  his  younger  brother  for 
an  evening  call.  He  was  a  student  at  Hobart.  His 
manner  was  easy,  and  his  conversation  unusually  in 
teresting  for  one  so  young.  This  was  the  youth  who 
was  put  to  death  by  Captain  Alexander  Slidell  Mac 
kenzie,  in  December,  1842,  for  an  alleged  mutiny  at 
sea  on  board  The  Somers.  I  have  always  thought 

r 


RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

that  his  fate  was  cruel  and  unjust.  Mackenzie  was  the 
brother  of  the  notorious  Senator,  John  Slidell.  The 
elder  of  the  Spencer  brothers  told  cock-and-bull  sto 
ries  of  a  recent  trip  to  England  as  bearer  of  Federal 
despatches,  and  his  possession  *of  the  law  library  of 
his  grandfather,  Ambrose  Spencer,  with  notes  on  the 
margins  of  the  volumes  by  the  famous  chief-justice, 
all  of  which  I  subsequently  learned  was  a  draft  on  the 
imagination. 

John  C.  Spencer  was  for  a  long  period  one  of  the 
heads  of  the  bar  in  western  New  York.  I  first  heard 
him  at  Rochester,  in  1829-30,  when  he  was  special 
counsel  for  the  state  in  the  prosecution  of  the  Anti- 
masonic  cases.  He  was  a  wary  and  dangerous  adver 
sary  in  the  trial  of  actions  that  involved  nice  legal 
distinctions,  and  where  falsehood  was  curiously  inter 
twined  with  truth.  His  clear  head  and  plastic  hand 
had  much  to  do  in  the  revision  of  the  New  York  Stat 
utes.  Gerrit  Smith  told  me  that  pretty  much  all  he 
learned  when  a  wild  young  man,  during  the  short 
time  he  was  in  Spencer's  office  as  a  law  student,  was 
a  method  of  blotting  out  writing  so  skilfully  that  what 
was  obliterated  could  by  no  possibility  be  ascertained. 

It  was  the  acute  mind  of  Mr.  Spencer  which  de 
vised  that  cunning  evasion  of  the  Constitution  of  New 
York  known  as  the  Canal  Bill  of  1851.  The  long 
struggle  over  this  measure  in  the  legislature  and  the 
courts  will  be  referred  to  in  another  place.  Mr.  Spen 
cer's  versatile  talents  were  always  in  request  by  his 
party.  He  held  more  offices  than  any  citizen  of  New 
York,  except  perhaps  Martin  Yan  Buren  and  John  A. 
Dix. 


SONS    IN    THE    PROFESSION.  147 

I  close  the  chapters  on  Law  and  Lawyers  by  re 
marking  that  I  have  shown  my  regard  for  the  pro 
fession  by  inducting  four  of  my  sons  into  its  intrica 
cies.  Daniel  Cady  Stanton  was  for  one  year  a  super 
visor  of  registration,  and  for  two  years  a  member  of 
the  legislature  of  Louisiana,  in  the  turbulent  era  of 
reconstruction.  Henry  Stanton,  a  graduate  of  the 
law  school  of  Columbia  College,  is  now  the  official 
attorney  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway  Company. 
Gerrit  Smith  Stanton  and  Robert  Livingston  Stanton 
are  also  graduates  of  the  Columbia  School.  The  for 
mer  cultivates  the  soil,  and  dispenses  the  law  in  Iowa. 
The  latter  practises  his  profession  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  The  reader  who  peruses  the  miscellaneous 
matter  that  is  to  follow  will  discover  that  much  of  it 
relates  to  lawyers. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Dr.  Samuel  B.  Woodward  and  Senator  Albert  H.  Tracy.— Close 
Resemblance  to  Washington  and  Jefferson. — Webster  and  the 
Conscience  Whigs  in  Faueuil  Hall  in  1846. — Crittenden  on 
Clay  and  Webster.  —  Clay  before  the  Supreme  Court.  —  Mrs. 
James  Madison.— John  Sargeant.— Chief- justice  Taney.— Clay 
in  the  Senate. — A  Galaxy  of  Talents. — "Biddle  and  the  Bank." 
— The  Sub-Treasury  Question. — Clay's  Speech  in  New  York. — 
His  Personal  Magnetism. — His  Funeral  Pageant. — A  Cluster  of 
Political  Rivals.  —  George  P.  Barker.  —  Sanford  E.  Church. — 
Church  in  the  New  York  Assembly  in  1842.— Hoffman,  Dix, 
Seymour,  and  other  Members. — Church  makes  Barker  Attorney- 
General. — Anecdote  of  Church  and  James  W.  Nye  at  the  Buf 
falo  Convention  in  1848. 

IT  is  natural  to  desire  to  see  distinguished  persons  ; 
and  next  to  seeing  the  very  individuals  is  the  privi 
lege  of  conversing  with  their  doubles.  Who  does  not 
wish  that  he  could  behold  two  men  who  look  and 
talk  as  Washington  and  Jefferson  did  ?  I  boarded  for 
some  months  in  Boston  at  the  United  States  Hotel. 
Whenever  he  visited  the  city,  Dr.  Samuel  B.  Wood 
ward,  Principal  of  the  Insane  Asylum  at  Worcester, 
dined  at  that  hotel.  As  he  walked  erect  and  majes 
tic  through  the  long  room  to  the  head  of  the  table, 
every  knife  and  fork  rested,  and  all  eyes  centred  on 
him.  He  received  similar  notice  when  appearing  as 
an  expert  witness  in  the  courts.  The  reason  was  this : 
Young  men  who  saw  George  Washington  after  he 
passed  middle  life  traced  the  very  close  resemblance 


DR.  WOODWARD. — SENATOR    TRACEY.  149 

between  him  and  Dr.  "Woodward.  Aware  of  the 
cause,  the  doctor  was  flattered  by  these  attentions. 
Forty -five  years  ago,  I  spent  a  long  evening  at  Buf 
falo  in  the  company  of  Albert  II.  Tracey,  who  had 
previously  been  prominent  in  Congress  and  the  State 
Senate.  In  the  latter  body  he  often  pronounced  the 
guiding  decision  of  the  old  Court  of  Errors.  In  mien, 
size,  bearing,  visage,  and  conversation,  he  was  the 
counterpart  of  Thomas  Jefferson  wrhen  about  the 
same  age.  Mr.  Tracy  was  fully  conscious  of  this  like 
ness  between  him  and  the  author  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence. 

The  Whig  State  Convention  of  Massachusetts  met 
in  the  fall  of  1846,  at  Faneuil  Hall.  It  was  during 
the  Mexican  war.  The  Whig  party  in  that  state  had 
long  been  seconding  the  Presidential  aspirations  of 
Mr.  "Webster.  An  element  known  as  "  Conscience 
Whigs  "  elected  several  delegates  to  the  convention, 
among  whom  were  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  Horace  Mann, 
Charles  Allen,  and  Charles  Francis  Adams,  all  good 
debaters  and  full  of  courage.  They  offered  resolu 
tions  about  the  war  and  slavery  that  did  not  run  in 
the  "Websterian  grooves.  In  the  afternoon  the  discus 
sion  waxed  warm,  and  the  revolting  faction  (the  coun 
terpart  of  the  New"  York  Barnburners)  were  getting 
the  best  of  it  in  their  encounter  with  the  Conserva 
tives.  Charles  Francis  Adams  (I  think  it  was)  wras 
on  the  platform,  throwing  out  short,  pungent  sen 
tences  that  flew  like  arrows  through  the  hall.  I  was 
a  close  observer  of  the  scene  from  the  gallery,  which 
looked  down  upon  the  rostrum,  but  had  not  noticed 
that  two  prominent  Whig  leaders  had  left  an  hour 


150  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

before.  The  convention  sat  with  its  back  to  the  great 
door  of  the  hall,  around  which  was  a  crowd  of  spec 
tators.  While  Adams  was  speaking,  a  clapping  of 
hands  suddenly  broke  out  near  the  door,  and  instant 
ly  there  emerged  from  the  excited  throng  the  grand 
form  of  Webster  leaning  on  the  arms  of  Abbott  Law 
rence  and  Kobert  C.  Winthrop.  A  shout  of  "  Web 
ster  !"  went  up  from  the  floor,  and  three  cheers 
bounded  to  the  roof.  The  two  messengers  found  the 
Great  Expounder  (so  it  was  reported)  at  dinner.  His 
cheek  was  a  little  flushed.  Adams  subsided,  and  Web 
ster  ascended  the  platform.  His  first  sentence  was, 
"  I  like  to  meet  the  Whigs  of  Massachusetts  in  State 
Convention  assembled,  because  their  proceedings  al 
ways  breathe  the  spirit  of  Liberty."  He  hesitated  a 
second  or  two  before  pronouncing  the  word  "  liberty," 
but  when  it  came  out  it  seemed  to  weigh  ten  pounds. 
It  was  a  shot  right  between  wind  and  water.  He 
spoke  briefly,  closing  substantially  as  follows :  "  In 
the  dark  and  troubled  night  that  surrounds  us,  I  see 
no  light  by  which  to  guide  our  course  except  in  the 
united  action  of  the  united  Whig  party  of  the  United 
States." 

The  resolutions  of  the  Conscience  Whigs  were  laid 
on  the  table ;  but  in  due  time  the  recoil  came,  and  six 
years  later  Daniel  Webster  turned  his  face  to  the 
wall  at  Marshfield,  and  died,  because  he  could  not  ob 
tain  a  nomination  to  the  Presidency,  while  these 
Whigs  marched  onward  with  the  procession  that  ul 
timately  saved  the  Union  and  destroyed  slavery. 

A  dozen  years  or  more  after  this  event  in  Faneuil 
Hall,  I  happened  to  be  one  of  a  dinner-party  in  Wash- 


CKITTENDEX    ON    CLAY    AND    WEBSTER.  151 

ington  where  John  J.  Crittenden  and  Thomas  Corwin 
were  the  shining  lights.  The  conversation  turned  on 
Clay  and  Webster,  both  of  whom  were  then  in  their 
graves.  Mr.  Crittenden  said :  "  We  all  (i.  <?.,  the  Clay 
Whigs)  desired  to  see  Clay  and  Webster  elected  to 
the  Presidency,  and  we  felt  that  to  accomplish  this 
object  it  was  necessary  that  Mr.  Clay  should  come 
first,  but  we  were  never  able  to  make  Webster  and 
his  personal  friends  see  this,  and  therefore  neither  of 
them  won  the  prize."  The  following  anecdote  was 
vouched  for  by  competent  authority.  In  the  stormy 
days  of  John  Tyler,  while  Webster  was  Secretary  of 
State,  and  Eufus  Choate  was  in  the  Senate,  and  Con 
gress  was  in  extra  session  in  the  fall  of  1841,  the  ques 
tion  of  chartering  a  United  States  bank  was  shaking 
the  country.  Mr.  Clay,  as  chairman  of  the  Finance 
Committee  in  the  Senate,  was  pressing  the  measure, 
and  Tyler  was  resisting  it.  A  conference  of  leading 
Whig  Senators  was  held.  Clay,  with  lofty  mien,  was 
for  waging  relentless  war  on  the  accidental  president, 
who  had  stepped  into  the  White  House  over  the  dead 
body  of  General  Harrison.  Choate  again  and  again 
told  what  Webster  thought  ought  to  be  done.  Clay 
was  restive,  and  exclaimed, "  Who  cares  a  d — n  about 
what  Webster  thinks  ?"  In  1844,  Clay  was  the  Whig 
candidate  for  President.  The  tariff  and  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas,  wherein  he  had  conspicuously  figured, 
were  the  leading  issues  of  the  canvass.  On  a  mem 
orable  occasion  in  the  campaign,  Webster  made  an 
elaborate  speech,  but  never  once  mentioned  Clay's 
name.  It  must  have  severely  taxed  his  ingenuity  to 
avoid  it. 


152          .  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

These  are  fair  illustrations  of  the  relations  in  which 
these  eminent  statesmen  stood  towards  each  other  dur 
ing  the  last  ten  years  of  their  lives. 

I  went  to  Washington  in  February,  1848,  to  attend 
to  business  in  the  Supreme  Court.  I  heard  Mr.  Clay 
argue  a  case.  For  two  hours  his  sonorous  voice  pealed 
through  the  corridors,  and  delighted  a  great  throng. 
Mrs.  James  Madison  sat  by  his  side.  The  venerable 
lady,  who  was  dressed  quite  young  for  her  years,  was 
gallantly  complimented  by  Mr.  Clay,  and  seemed  as 
proud  of  the  orator  as  she  was  thirty-six  years  before, 
when  he  championed  the  administration  of  her  emi 
nent  husband  in  Congress  during  the  war  with  Eng 
land.  The  counsel  that  argued  the  other  side  of  the 
case  was  John  Sergeant  of  Philadelphia,  who  had 
confronted  Clay  in  Congress  in  the  Missouri  contro 
versy,  but  had  been  on  the  ticket  with  him  as  Whig 
candidate  for  the  Yice-Presidency  in  1832.  It  was  an 
interesting  group  of  celebrated  historical  characters, 
especially  wThen  we  include  Chief-justice  Taney,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  that  removed  the  deposits, 
whom  Clay  had  denounced  in  the  Senate  as  one  of 
the  great  scoundrels  of  the  century. 

The  first  time  I  saw  Mr.  Clay  was  in  the  Senate  in 
the  winter  of  1838,  when  he  spoke  for  a  few  minutes. 
His  manner  was  easy  and  graceful,  but  imperious  and 
commanding.  The  Senate  then  shone  with  excep 
tional  lustre.  In  the  front  rank  towered  Clay,  Web 
ster,  Calhoun,  Benton,  Buchanan,  and  Wright.  Next 
to  them  stood  such  statesmen  and  orators  as  Critten- 
den,  Southard,  Tallmadge,  Kives,  Preston,  and  Clay 
ton.  Even  distinguished  men  like  King  of  Alabama, 


HENRY    CLAY    AS    AN    ORATOR.  153 

Frank  Pierce,  Grundy,  Robert  J.  Walker,  Allen  of 
Ohio,  and  Hugh  L.  White  felt  honored  by  being  as 
signed  to  the  third  class.  The  conflict  between  re- 
chartering  the  United  States  Bank  and  establishing 
the  Sub-treasury  was  then  at  its  height,  and  Clay  and 
Webster  predicted  a  revolution  if  the  latter  prevailed 
over  the  former.  But  they  lived  years  after  the  mar 
ble  building  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  bank  so  long 
kept  watch  and  ward,  was  quietly  converted  into  a 
sub-treasury.  If  the  ghost  of  Nick  Biddle  ever  re 
visits  the  glimpses  of  the  moon,  it  must  be  shocked 
as  it  glides  up  Chestnut  Street,  and  sees  "  the  base 
uses"  to  which  the  fine  old  Grecian  edifice  is 
put. 

In  the  summer  of  1839  I  heard  Mr.  Clay  deliver  an 
elaborate  speech  on  the  Bank  and  Sub-treasury  ques 
tion  from  an  open  barouche,  at  the  steps  of  the  New 
York  City  Hall.  He  had  been  conducted  by  a  long 
cavalcade  of  horsemen  from  the  banks  of  the  Hudson, 
and  he  was  now  surrounded  by  an  immense  concourse. 
I  stood  at  the  junction  of  Broadway  and  Park  Row. 
His  voice  rang  out  so  loud  and  clear  that  his  words 
were  distinctly  reverberated  from  the  wall  of  the 
Astor  House.  He  was  then  putting  in  his  bid  for  the 
next  Presidential  nomination.  But,  though  their  great 
est  leader,  the  Whigs  declined  to  run  him  in  the  cam 
paigns  of  1840  and  then  in  1848,  when  he  could 
certainly  have  been  successful.  Soon  after  the  disas 
trous  contest  of  1844,  in  a  short,  humorous  speech 
he  accounted  for  his  failure.  He  said  some  of  his 
opponents  were  like  those  of  Tom  Brown's  Doctor 
Fell: 


15  i  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

"  I  do  not  love  you,  Dr.  Fell, 
The  reason  why  I  cannot  tell; 
But  this  alone  I  know  full  well — 
I  do  not  love  you,  Doctor  Fell." 

He  was  looking  forward  to  a  nomination  in  1848. 
I  watched  him  with  interest  as  ho  lingered  in  the 
Senate  Chamber  and  Supreme  Court,  surrounded  by 
admirers  over  whom  the  sway  of  his  personal  mag 
netism  was  as  irresistible  as  that  of  Napoleon  over 
his  Old  Guard. 

One  summer  evening,  in  1852, 1  arrived  at  the  Del- 
evan  House,  in  Albany,  retired  to  rest,  and  was  soon 
fast  asleep.  By  and  by  the  strains  of  martial  music 
floating  on  the  midnight  air  awoke  me,  and  called  me 
to  the  open  Avindow.  It  was  a  band  playing  the  Dead 
March  in  Saul  at  the  head  of  a  procession  that  had 
just  taken  the  remains  of  the  great  Kentuckian  from 
a  steamer  on  the  Hudson,  and  was  escorting  them  to 
the  train  that  was  to  bear  them  to  their  final  resting- 
place  at  the  West. 

Rivalries  of  the  type  displayed  by  Clay  and  Web 
ster  have  been  common  among  leaders  of  parties,  and 
have  often  torn  them  in  pieces,  as,  for  instance,  those 
of  Jackson  and  Calhoun  ;  Yan  Buren  and  Cass ;  Ben- 
ton  and  Atchison  ;  Marcy  and  Wright ;  Buchanan 
and  Dickinson  ;  Ritchie  and  Blair ;  Cass  and  Doug 
las  ;  John  Yan  Buren  and  Seymour ;  Seward  and 
Chase ;  Weed  and  Greeley ;  Wade  and  Chase ;  Gree- 
ley  and  Raymond ;  Dix  and  Tilden  ;  Conkling  and 
Fenton;  Hendricks  and  McDonald;  Cameron  and 
Grow ;  Thurman  and  Payne ;  Blaine  and  Conkling. 

The  glass  shows  many  more.    Let  no  one  complain 


GEORGE    P.  BARKER. — SANFORD    E.  CHURCH.          155 

that  his  name  is  omitted.  If  all  were  included,  the 
line  would  stretch  out  till  the  crack  of  doom. 

This  class  of  politicians  are  wont  to  make  chasms 
in  parties  through  which  they  themselves  often  drop, 
and  disappear  forever. 

In  the  fall  of  18il  I  was  in  Buffalo  at  a  Democratic 
meeting  addressed  by  George  P.  Barker,  who  had  won 
a  reputation  for  a  style  of  oratory  like  that  ascribed 
to  John  Yan  Buren.  Tall,  graceful,  with  a  kindling 
eye  and  clarion  voice,  Barker's  speech  swept  the  au 
dience  along  like  an  overflowing  river.  The  annexa 
tion  of  Texas  was  beginning  to  loom  threateningly 
upon  the  horizon.  The  Democracy  generally  were 
favoring  the  scheme.  Barker  was-  suspected  of  un- 
soundness  on  this  question.  A  few  Whigs  had  gone 
in  with  the  throng.  One  of  them,  in  the  hope  of  an 
noying  Barker,  who  was  dashing  forward  in  his  usual 
brilliant  manner,  cried  out.  "  Are  you  in  favor  of  an 
nexing  Texas  to  strengthen  the  slave  power  of  the 
country  ?"  Turning  to  his  questioner,  but  not  paus 
ing  in  his  speech,  Barker  threw  in  the  repty,  as  if  it 
were  a  parenthesis,  "  All  the  world  for  freedom ;  Salt 
Eiver  for  the  "Whigs."  This  sally  silenced  the  Whig, 
and  drew  cheers  from  the  Democrats. 

In  the  following  January  I  was  introduced  to  San- 
ford  E.  Church,  then  the  youngest  member  of  the  As 
sembly  of  1842,  where  appeared  such  leaders  as  John 
A.  Dix,  Horatio  Seymour,  Michael  Hoffman,  Arphaxad 
Loomis,  and  Peter  B.  Porter.  I  referred  to  the  scene 
at  Buffalo,  and  Church  said  he  was  going  to  make 
Barker  attorney-general ;  and  he  did,  and  the  worthy 
predecessor  of  John  Yan  Buren  he  wTas. 


156  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

Mr.  Church  was  a  member  of  the  Buffalo  Conven 
tion  of  1848.  Dean  Richmond,  James  S.  Wads  worth, 
James  W.  JSye,  and  I  were  taking  a  lunch,  when 
Church  came  in,  dripping  with  perspiration,  and  said 
there  was  a  great  clamor  in  the  convention,  some 
calling  upon  Charles  Francis  Adams  for  a  speech,  and 
others  shouting  for  Frederick  Douglass.  "  Nye,"  said 
Church,  "  it  is  a  contest  between  a  Whig  and  a  negro, 
and  they  have  agreed  to  compromise  on  you.  "Will 
you  go  over?"  This  tickled  Nye's  fancy,  and  he 
went  to  the  tent  under  which  the  convention  sat  and 
made  one  of  his  witty  speeches,  that  restored  the 
sweltering  assembly  to  good-humor.  Mr.  Church  rose 
steadily  in  favor  when  twice  lieutenant-governor  and 
as  comptroller  and  chief  judge  of  the  Court  of  Ap 
peals.  He  was  not  a  genius,  knew  little  of  general 
literature,  but  brimmed  all  over  with  sagacity  and 
common-sense. 


CHAPTER  XVni. 

Democratic  National  Convention  of  1844. — Van  Buren,  Polk,  and 
Cass. — Polk  Nominated  for  President. — Wright  Nominated  for 
Vice-President. — He  Declines.— First  Use  of  the  Morse  Tele 
graph.— Folk's  Duplicity  in  Forming  his  Cabinet. — Marcy,  Sec 
retary  of  War. — The  Barnburners  Angry.— Death  of  John  Quin- 
cy  Adams. — The  Barnburner  Revolt  of  1847-48. — "The  Assas 
sins  of  Silas  Wright." — List  of  Barnburners  and  Hunkers. — 
Utica  Convention  of  1848. — Young,  Cambreling,  and  Tilden  Pres 
ent. — Cass  and  Taylor  Rival  Candidates  for  President. — Con 
vention  at  Buffalo  in  1848.— B.  F.  Butler's  Speech.— "D—n  his 
Turnips!" — Yan  Buren  Nominated  for  President,  and  Charles 
Francis  Adams  for  Yice-President.  —  The  Barnburner  Revolt 
Defeats  Cass  and  Elects  Taylor. — Reunion  of  the  New  York 
Democracy  in  184D.— The  Election  and  its  Results. 

MR.  VAN  BUREN  having  been  beaten  in  1840  on  the 
sub-treasury  and  cognate  issues,  the  great  body  of  the 
Democrats  believed  that  he  ought  to  be  renominated 
in  1844.  He  had  a  majority  of  the  delegates  in  the 
National  Convention  of  the  latter  year;  but  an  in 
trigue,  in  which  General  Cass  was  the  central  figure, 
sprung  on  him  the  two-thirds  rule,  and  defeated  his 
nomination.  To  prevent  Cass  or  any  of  the  other  in 
triguers  from  getting  it,  the  friends  of  Yan  Buren 
(who  had  previously  conferred  with  James  K.  Polk 
about  putting  him  on  the  ticket  for  Vice-President) 
now  changed  front  in  the  convention,  and  nominated 
Polk  for  President.  It  is  interesting  to  remember 
that  Silas  Wright  was  nominated  for  Vice-President, 


155  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

but  instantly  declined,  and  that  the  messages  which 
passed  between  the  convention  at  Baltimore  and 
Wright  at  Washington  on  this  subject  were  the  first 
ever  sent  over  the  Morse  telegraph.  Polk  owed  his 
candidacy  to  the  Barnburners,  and  expressed  grati 
tude  to  them  for  it.  To  enable  him  to  carry  New 
York  at  the  election,  "Wright,  then  a  leader  in  the 
Senate,  consented  to  run  for  governor.  The  prize 
having  been  won,  and  Henry  Clay  beaten  by  the  loss 
of  New  York,  Polk  now  turned  traitor  to  the  men 
who  had  made  him  President.  "Wright  having  been 
chosen  Governor,  was  out  of  the  question  for  a  seat  in 
the  Cabinet,  but  Polk  hypocritically  offered  him  the 
Treasury.  Wright  declined  it,  and,  with  the  concur 
rence  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren  and  all  the  leading  Barnburn 
ers,  proposed  that  the  representative  of  New  York  in 
the  Cabinet  be  either  Benjamin  F.  Butler  for  the  State 
Department  or  Azariah  C.  Flagg  for  the  Treasury. 
Polk  whiffled,  equivocated,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Hunkers,  and  spurned  the  recommendation  of  those 
who  had  lifted  him  from  obscurity  into  the  Presi 
dency.  The  Barnburners  "  nursed  their  wrath  to  keep 
it  warm,"  and  in  1848  emptied  the  vials  on  the  head 
of  General  Cass,  the  Hunker  candidate  for  President, 
and  opened  the  breach  in  the  party  that  was  never 
closed  till  slavery  was  overthrown. 

In  the  chilly  morning  of  February  21, 1848,  I  met 
Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams  by  the  fireplace  in  the  rear 
of  the  Speaker's  chair  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  He  had  walked,  as  was  his  wont,  to  the  Capi 
tol.  As  he  shook  my  hand,  he  trembled  with  cold. 
He  took  his  usual  seat.  Some  fulsome  resolutions 


DEATH    OF    JOHN    QUINCY    ADAtfS.  159 

eulogizing  General  Taylor,  who  was  looming  as  a  pos 
sible  Presidential  candidate,  were  the  first  business. 
They  created  an  uproar.  Forty  members  were  shout 
ing  to  the  Speaker.  Mr.  Speaker  R.  C.  Winthrop 
was  vigorously  plying  his  gavel.  My  eye  fell  upon 
Mr.  Adams.  His  hand  was  nervously  creeping  up  his 
desk  as  if  he  were  trying  to  rise.  I  thought  he  was 
about  to  take  part  in  the  din  that  filled  the  hall.  But 
instantly  I  saw  the  pallor  of  death  on  his  cheek.  His 
hand  dropped  by  his  side,  and  he  slowly  inclined  over 
the  arm  of  his  chair.  I  spoke  to  Washington  Hunt, 
a  member,  and  subsequently  Governor  of  New  York  : 
"  Look  to  Mr.  Adams,  he  is  falling  in  his  chair."  He 
rushed  towards  him.  A  call  for  help  arrested  the  at 
tention  of  the  House.  It  became  silent  as  the  grave. 
The  aged  patriot  was  borne  to  the  Speaker's  room, 
never  to  leave  it  alive.  Sage  of  Quincy !  He  had 
fought  a  good  fight  for  the  liberty  of  the  Press,  Free 
dom  of  Speech,  and  the  Right  of  Petition.  lie  fell 
in  the  plenitude  of  his  fame,  on  the  theatre  of  his 
grandest  achievements,  with  the  roar  of  battle  sound 
ing  in  his  valiant  ear. 

In  the  fall  of  1847  I  was  a  spectator  at  the  Demo 
cratic  State  Convention  of  that  year,  held  in  Syracuse. 
The  convention  tore  itself  asunder  in  a  desperate 
struggle  over  the  renomination  of  Azariah  C.  Flagg 
as  comptroller,  the  defeat  of  Martin  Tan  Buren  at 
the  Baltimore  Convention  of  1844,  the  political  assas 
sination  of  Silas  Wright  when  running  for  governor 
the  second  time  in  1846,  and  the  attempt  to  incor 
porate  the  Wilmot  Proviso  into  the  platform  of  the 
party.  The  great  chiefs  of  both  factions  were  on  the 


160  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

ground,  and  never  was  there  a  more  fierce,  bitter,  and 
relentless  conflict  "between  the  Narragansetts  and  the 
Pequods  than  this  memorable  contest  between  the 
Barnburners  and  the  Hunkers.  Mr.  Wright  was  the 
idol  of  the  Barnburners.  He  had  died  that  summer. 
James  S.  Wadsworth  voiced  the  sentiments  of  his  fol 
lowers.  In  the  convention  some  one  spoke  of  doing 
justice  to  Silas  Wright.  A  Hunker  sneeringly  re 
sponded,  "  It  is  too  late ;  he  is  dead."  Springing 
upon  a  table,  Wadsworth  made  the  hall  ring  as  he 
uttered  the  defiant  reply :  "  Though  it  may  be  too 
late  to  do  justice  to  Silas  Wright,  it  is  not  too  late  to 
do  justice  to  his  assassins."  The  Hunkers  laid  the 
Wilmot  Proviso  on  the  table,  but  the  Barnburners 
punished  them  at  the  election. 

The  Barnburners  were  the  Girondists  of  the  De 
mocracy.  Listen  to  a  sample  of  names :  Martin  Yan 
Buren,  Silas  Wright,  B.  F.  Butler,  Churchill  C.  Cam- 
breling,  Michael  Hoffman,  Dean  Richmond,  John 
Yan  Buren,  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  David 'Dudley  Field, 
Addison  Gardiner,  A.  C.  Flagg,  Samuel  Young,  G. 
P.  Barker,  Nicholas  Hill,  Sanford  E.  Church,  John 
A.  Dix,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  Preston  King,  James 
S.  Wadsworth,  Arphaxad  Loomis,  J.  W.  Nye,  Will 
iam  Cassidy,  Andrew  H.  Green,  Abijah  Mann,  John 
Bigelow,  Thomas  B.  Carroll,  Reuben  E.  Fenton,  and 
Charles  J.  Folger.  A  slight  acquaintance  with  the 
politics  of  New  York  suffices  to  show  that  these  Avere 
men  of  mark. 

In  the  stormy  epoch  of  1847-48  the  Hunkers  were 
ably  led  by  William  L.  Marcy,  Daniel  S.  Dickinson, 
Edwin  Croswell,  Horatio  Seymour,  Charles  (TConor, 


THE   WILMOT   PROVISO.  101 

Reuben  II.  Wai  worth,  Samuel  Beardsley,  and  Will 
iam  C.  Bouck. 

The  Syracuse  Convention  of  1847  had  divided  the 
New  York  Democrats  into  two  bitter  factions.  The 
convention  for  nominating  the  national  ticket  was  to 
meet  at  Baltimore  in  May,  1848.  Each  faction  ap 
pointed  full  delegations,  each  claiming  to  be  regular. 
In  1848  the  Democratic  legislative  caucus,  at  Albany, 
issued  an  address  to  the  country,  defending  the  regu 
larity  of  the  Barnburner  delegates,  and  presenting 
with  consummate  ability  the  Free-soil  side  of  the 
slavery  controversy.  It  is  now  known  that  this  ad 
dress  was  the  joint  production  of  Martin  Van  Buren, 
Samuel  J.  Tilden,  and  John  Van  Buren.  After  an 
acrimonious  contest  at  Baltimore  the  convention  re 
fused  to  admit  the  Barnburners  as  the  sole  delegates, 
but  would  allow  half  of  them  and  an  equal  number  of 
Hunkers  to  represent  the  state ;  or,  as  I  happened  to 
put  it  in  a  speech  at  a  meeting  soon  afterwards  in 
Albany,  which  tickled  Nicholas  Hill,  the  chairman, 
u  The  regular  delegates  might  occupy  half  a  seat 
apiece,  provided  each  of  them  would  let  a  Hunker 
sit  on  his  lap."  The  Barnburners  declined  to  enter 
on  these  conditions.  General  Cass  was  then  nomi 
nated  for  President,,  and  the  Free-soil  Democracy  re 
solved  to  defeat  him. 

The  proceedings  at  Baltimore  set  the  Free-soil  ball 
a-rolling,  and  enthusiastic  meetings  Avere  held  all  over 
New  York.  A  tumultuous  assemblage  in  the  City 
Hall  Park  was  addressed  by  John  Yan  Buren  and 
Churchill  C.  Cambreling,  the  latter  declaring,  in  sono 
rous  tones,  that  "  slavery  had  received  its  death  sen- 


162  RANDOM    KECOLLECTIOXS. 

tence."  A  Democratic  state  convention  met  at  Utica  in 
June.  A  large  representation  of  the  most  distinguished 
Democrats  of  New  York  was  present,  and  the  veteran 
Samuel  Young  took  the  chair.  He  delivered  a  vehe 
ment  speech,  in  which  he  said,  "  A  clap  of  political 
thunder  will  be  heard  in  this  country  next  November 
that  will  make  the  propagandists  of  slavery  shake 
like  Belshazzar."  Utterances  like  these  from  Demo 
crats  of  such  eminence  as  Cambreling  and  Young  re 
verberated  all  over  the  Union,  giving  slavery  a  blow 
from  which  it  never  recovered.  Mr.  Tilden  made  an 
able  report  respecting  the  proceedings  at  Baltimore, 
and  Martin  Yan  Buren  addressed  a  noble  letter  to  the 
convention,  vindicating  the  constitutionality  and  wis 
dom  of  the  "\Vilmot  Proviso.  The  convention  nom 
inated  him  for  President.  The  Free-soil  stream  soon 
broke  over  the  Barnburner  dykes,  and  the  result  was 
the  famous  gathering  in  August  at  the  Queen  City  of 
the  Lakes. 

The  nomination  of  General  Cass  for  the  Presidency 
by  the  Democrats  and  General  Taylor  by  the  Whigs 
led  to  the  Buffalo  Convention  of  1848.  The  Barn 
burners  had  opposed  Cass  in  vain  at  the  Baltimore 
Convention.  They  had  made  the  Monumental  City 
lurid  with  their  wrath,  frightening  the  delegates  from 
the  back  states  almost  out  of  their  wits.  At  Buffalo 
I  was  one  of  the  committee  that  drafted  its  Free-soil 
platform.  It  was  a  motley  assembly.  Pro-slavery 
Democrats  were  there  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  Mar 
tin  Yan  Buren.  Free-soil  Democrats  were  there  to 
punish  the  assassins  of  Silas  Wright,  Pro-slavery 
Whigs  were  there  to  strike  down  General  Taylor  be- 


THE  BUFFALO  CONVENTION.  163 

cause  lie  had  dethroned  their  idol,  Henry  Clay,  in  the 
Philadelphia  Convention.  Anti-slavery  Whigs  were 
there,  breathing  the  spirit  of  the  departed  John  Quin- 
cy  Adams.  Abolitionists  of  all  shades  of  opinion 
were  present,  from  the  darkest  type  to  those  of  a 
milder  hue,  who  shared  the  views  of  Salmon  P.  Chase. 
An  immense  tent  was  raised  on  the  court-house  square 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  convention,  where  the 
crowds  were  regaled  with  speeches  and  music.  Its 
real  business  was  conducted  by  delegates  locked  in  a 
Baptist  church  close  at  hand.  There  was  a  rooted 
prejudice  against  Mr.  Yan  Buren  among  the  Whigs 
and  Abolitionists.  But  the  adroit  eloquence  of  his 
former  law  partner,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Albany, 
and  an  admirable  Free-soil  letter  from  the  Sage  of 
Linden wald  himself,  carried  him  through,  and  he  was 
nominated  for  President,  with  Charles  Francis  Ad 
ams  for  Yice-President. 

A  rather  amusing  illustration  of  this  prejudice  oc 
curred  while  Mr.  Butler  was  speaking.  It  will  be  re 
membered  that,  in  his  inaugural  address  as  President, 
Mr.  Yan  Buren  pledged  himself  to  veto  any  bill  passed 
by  Congress  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  unless  the  measure  was  sanctioned 
by  the  states  of  Yirginia  and  Maryland.  This  pledge 
gave  great  umbrage  to  Anti-slavery  men  of  all  types, 
and,  though  eleven  eventful  years  had  since  elapsed 
when  the  Buffalo  Convention  was  held,  the  hostility 
to  Yan  Buren  on  account  of  this  old  pledge  remained 
unshaken  in  many  minds.  In  his  speech  Butler  was 
getting  around  thorny  points  in  Yan  Buren's  career 
very  skilfully.  While  graphically  describing  a  recent 


164  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

visit  to  the  ex-President's  Kinderhook  farm,  and  tell 
ing  how  he  was  now  absorbed  in  bucolic  pursuits,  like 
Cincinnatus,  the  model  yeoman  of  his  epoch,  Butler 
spoke  of  the  agility  with  which  Yan  Bureri  leaped  a 
fence  to  show  his  visitor  a  field  of  sprouting  turnips. 
A  Whig  in  the  convention,  who  remembered  the  veto 
pledge,  and  was  utterly  opposed  to  nominating  its 
author,  broke  in  upon  Butler  with  the  startling  ex 
clamation,  "  D — n  his  turnips !  What  are  his  opin 
ions  about  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia?"  "I  was  just  coming  to  that  subject," 
responded  the  oily  Barnburner,  with  a  suave  bow 
towards  the  ruffled  Whig.  "Well,  you  can't  be  a 
moment  too  quick  in  coming  to  it,"  replied  the  cap 
tious  interlocutor.  But,  as  I  have  already  stated,  the 
frank  letter  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren  carried  him  triumph 
antly  over  the  breakers. 

The  revolt  of  the  Xew  York  Barnburners  gave  the 
thirty-six  electoral  votes  of  the  state  to  General  Tay 
lor,  which  was  his  precise  majority  in  the  Union. 

Some  Barnburners  have  said  that  the  Democratic 
revolt  of  1847-48  was  the  beginning  of  the  Free- 
soil  movement.  This  is  an  error.  It  is  mistaking 
the  rocky  cataracts  over  which  the  stream  fell  for  the 
remote  fountains  whence  it  rose.  The  revolt  gave  a 
mighty  impulse  to  the  current,  but  did  not  originate 
it.  Even  long  before  Garrison  appeared  it  had 
broken  forth  in  the  Missouri  controversy  of  1819-20. 
Whoever  reads  the  speeches  of  James  Tallmadge, 
John  W.  Taylor,  and  Rufus  King  in  Congress  in  that 
troubled  period  will  find  that  they  were  as  sound  in 
doctrine,  as  strong  in  argument,  as  splendid  in  diction. 


BARNBURNERS  AND  HUNKERS. JOHN  VAN  BUREN.    165 

as  any  of  the  utterances  of  the  following  forty-five 
years,  when  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution  closed  the  controversy  for  all  time. 

In  1849  the  Barnburners  and  Hunkers  held  sepa 
rate  state  conventions  at  Rome  to  try  to  reunite  the 
party.  The  leaders  of  each  faction  were  present,  and 
committees  of  conference  exchanged  opinions.  A  res 
olution  offered  by  me  to  adhere  to  the  Wilmot  Pro 
viso  was  adopted.  We  split  on  that  rock,  and  the 
conventions  adjourned.  A  pressure  from  the  rank 
and  file  brought  them  together  again,  when  a  frail 
coalition  was  effected.  John  Yan  Buren  described  it, 
in  his  graphic  style :  "  We  are  asked  to  compromise 
our  principles,"  said  he.  "  The  day  of  compromise  is 
past;  but,  in  regard  to  candidates  for  state  offices, 
we  are  still  a  commercial  people.  We  will  unite  with 
our  late  antagonists,"  he  added.  Then,  paraphrasing 
ithe  Declaration  of  Independence,  he  said:  "And  we 
will  hold  them  as  we  hold  the  rest  of  mankind — ene- 
'mies  in  Avar,  in  peace  friends."  This  effort  to  com 
bine  incongruous  elements  failed.  A  mixed  ticket  for 
the  five  state  candidates  was  nominated.  "With  one 
exception  they  were  all  defeated  at  the  ballot-boxes. 
This  device,  so  frequently  employed  by  leaders  of  par 
ities  for  closing  chasms  in  their  ranks  when  fundamen- 
:tal  principles  are  involved,  is  rarely  successful.  The 
history  of  political  coalitions  proves  this. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Author  Elected  to  the  New  York  Senate  in  1849.— The  Canal 
Bill. — Twelve  Senators  Resign  to  Defeat  it. — Re-elected  in  1851. 
—The  Bill  Passes.— The  Court  of  Appeals  Pronounce  it  Uncon 
stitutional. — The  Author's  Seat  Contested.— Dinner  at  the  Astor 
House.  —  Speech  of  Seward  and  another.  —  Thurlow  Weed. — 
The  Midnight  Call.— The  Contest  Squelched.— Weed's  Hand  in 
it. — Members  and  Measures  in  the  Senate.  —  Hamilton  Fish 
Elected  United  States  Senator.— James  W.  Beekman  Bolts  Fish. 
—Notices  of  Hoffman,  Loomis,  Seymour,  Dix,  Van  Burcn, 
Marcy,  and  Dickinson. — John  Van  Buren  and  the  Apple-woman; 
his  Ill-health;  the  Water-cure  Establishment;  his  Death  at  Sea. 

I  WAS  elected  to  the  State  Senate  in  1849,  and  took 
my  seat  in  1850.  I  was  there  during  the  agitation 
over  the  compromise  measures  growing  out  of  the 
Mexican  war.  A  great  variety  of  resolutions  were 
introduced  in  the  legislature  on  those  questions. 
"While  this  subject  was  before  the  Senate  I  drew  a 
very  radical  resolution,  by  way  of  amendment  to  a 
series  then  pending.  It  elicited  warm  debate,  and 
was  put  to  test  on  a  call  of  the  yeas  and  nays.  It 
was  adopted.  Every  Whig  and  every  Democrat  who 
voted  for  this  amendment  subsequently  became  a 
member  of  the  Republican  party. 

I  will  here  insert  two  of  the  resolutions  which  I 
assisted  to  frame,  and  supported  in  speeches  by  my 
votes.  One  declared  that  "the  Federal  government 
ought  to  relieve  itself  from  all  responsibility  for  the 
existence  or  continuance  of  slavery  or  the  slave-trade, 


SLAVERY    AND    CANAL    LEGISLATION.  167 

wherever  it  lias  the  constitutional  power  over  these 
subjects.''  Another  said  that  "  we  feel  bound  to  op 
pose,  by  all  constitutional  means,  and  our  Senators  in 
Congress  are  hereby  instructed,  and  our  Representa 
tives  requested,  to  use  their  best  efforts  to  prevent,  by 
positive  enactment,  whenever  necessary,  the  extension 
of  slavery  over  any  part  of  our  territory,  however 
small,  and  by  whatever  pretence  of  compromise. 
These  sentiments  seem  commonplace  to-day,  but  it 
cost  a  high  price  to  utter  them  in  a  legislative  body 
in  January,  1850,  and  to  stand  up  to  them  before  the 
people.  All  the  Barnburners  in  the  Senate  voted  for 
these  resolutions,  while  seven  of  the  seventeen  Whigs 
recorded  their  names  against  them. 

The  Whigs  in  the  legislature,  at  the- session  of  1851, 
introduced  an  unprecedented  bill,  whicji  appropriated 
many  millions  of  money  for  the  purpose  of  enlarging 
the  canals.  The  Barnburners  deemed  it  unconstitu 
tional,  as  did  Democrats  generally.  The  bill  had 
passed  the  Assembly,  where  the  Whigs  had  a  large 
majority.  To  prevent  the  presence  of  the  three-fifths 
quorum  necessary  to  carry  it  in  the  Senate,  it  was 
thought  best  that  twelve  senators  should  ^<4ort  to  the 
desperate  expedient  of  resigning  their N>  orfh'ces.  The 
consequence  was  that  the  bill  fell  in  the  Senate. 

Elections  were  ordered  on  short  notice  to  fill  the 
twelve  vacancies,  and  an  extra  session  of  the  legisla 
ture  was  called  for  June.  The  tide  ran  against  the 
resigning  senators,  all  of  whom  stood  for  re-election. 
Six,  whose  districts  were  far  away  from  the  canals, 
were  successful.  The  other  six,  who  lived  in  ca 
nal  districts,  were  overwhelmed,  with  one  exception. 


168  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

There  were  three  canals,  stretching  forty-two  miles, 
in  the  three  counties  of  my  district.  There  were 
twelve  stump-speakers  in  the  field  against  me,  mar 
shalled  by  Gerrit  Smith.  At  the  close  of  the  savage 
light  I  was  re-elected  by  live  majority.  The  bill  was 
passed  at  the  extra  session.  I  opposed  it  step  by  step. 
The  judiciary  soon  afterwards  vindicated  the  sound 
ness  of  the  doctrines  of  the  resigning  senators.  The 
Court  of  Appeals  adjudged  the  law  to  be  unconstitu 
tional,  null,  and  void.  In  this  contest  I  was  the  spe 
cial  target  of  the  "  Canal  Ring."  On  both  occasions 
when  I  ran  for  the  Senate,  my  district,  on  a  fair  test 
of  the  strength  of  parties,  was  politically  opposed  to 
me.  I  was  at  each  election  carried  through  by  a 
large  number  of  votes  from  the  opposite  party  in  my 
own  town  and  several  adjoining  towns,  and  particu 
larly  from  the  poorer  citizens  in  these  towns.  To  be 
thus  sustained  at  home  in  these  sharp  struggles,  and 
when  I  had  to  bear  up  against  great  moneyed  inter 
ests  and  profligate  legislation,  I  regarded  as  a  higher 
compliment  than  to  have  received  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
from  the  proudest  university  in  the  country. 

My  opponent  in  the  second  election  was  Hon.  Josiah 
B.  Williams,  a  rich,  popular,  and  highly  respectable 
Whig,  of  Ithaca.  He  prepared  himself  with  a  pile  of 
petitions  and  affidavits,  for  the  purpose  of  contesting 
my  seat  before  a  body  wherein  his  political  party  had 
a  great  majority.  I  had  not  armed  myself  with  a 
single  petition  or  affidavit.  The  following  facts  illus 
trate  the  tact  of  one  or  two  Whig  leaders  who  flour 
ished  in  that  era.  In  the  winter  previous  to  the  re 
signation  of  the  twelve  senators  a  public  dinner  was 


THE    ERIE    CANAL.  169 

given  in  New  York  city  to  the  legislature.  Mr.  Sew- 
arcl,  then  in  the  Senate  at  Washington,  was  confront 
ing,  almost  single-handed,  the  assaults  of  the  slave 
power,  in  a  crisis  that  was  extremely  perilous.  lie 
attended  the  dinner.  I  was  required  to  make  a  speech. 
I  complimented  Mr.  Seward  for  his  fidelity  to  the 
Free-soil  cause  in  the  Senate,  and  at  the  close  gave  a 
toast  like  this  :  "  William  II.  Seward,  our  eminent 
Senator  in  Congress,  may  prosperity  ever  attend  him." 
All  the  Whigs  cheered  because  it  was  Seward,  and  all 
the  Barnburners  because  I  said  it.  In  the  dead  vast 
and  middle  of  the  night,  while  asleep  at  the  Astor, 
Thurlow  Weed  came  to  my  room,  awoke  me,  and  said 
that  the  manuscript  in  his  hand  was  an  imperfect  re 
port  of  my  speech.  He  wished  me  to  correct  it  for 
the  newspapers,  and  be  sure  and  supply  some  of  the 
eulogies  on  Seward,  which  the  reporter  had  omitted. 
I  arose  and  spent  a  half  hour  in  revising  the  speech, 
and  thought  no  more  of  the  small  matter. 

In  the  following  June,  on  the  first  day  when  the 

new  Senate  assembled,  Mr.  Weed  met  me  in  the  lobby 

before  I  entered  the  chamber,  and,  laying  his  hand  on 

my  shoulder,  said,  in  substance:  "Mr.  Williams  has 

collected  a  pile  of  affidavits,  and  will  contest  your  seat 

'    furiously.     You  recollect  you  made  a  speech  in  favor 

:   of  Mr.  Seward,  at  the  Astor  dinner  last  winter,  and 

got  out  of  bed  at  my  request  and  revised  it.     The 

Whigs,  at  this  session  of  the  Senate,  will  change  the 

committee  on  <  Privileges  and  Elections,'  and  (giving 

;   my  shoulder  a  squeeze  that  made  me  wince),  ' 1  think 

,   you  will  like  the  change!"'      The   committee  was 

!  changed.     The  new  member,  whereon   everything 


170  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

hinged,  had  served  with  me  in  the  previous  Senate. 
He  was  a  leading  Whig,  of  the  Weed-Seward  school. 
My  contestant  filed  his  huge  heap  of  petitions  and 
affidavits.  The  committee  met.  I  presented  two 
legal  points,  on  a  piece  of  paper  about  as  large  as 
my  hand.  The  new  member  gave  a  side  glance  at 
them,  craved  time  to  examine  them,  and  moved  that 
the  committee  adjourn  one  week.  Williams  flour 
ished  his  pile  of  documents,  and  protested.  The  mo 
tion  to  adjourn  was  carried  by  one  majority.  The 
week  came  around,  and  the  committee  again  met. 
The  new  member  assured  them  that  he  had  been  so 
busy  in  the  Senate  that  he  had  not  found  leisure  to 
look  at  the  papers  in  my  case,  and  therefore  moved 
an  adjournment  for  two  weeks,  so  that  he  could  ex 
amine  my  two  points.  Mr.  Williams  had  employed 
counsel,  and  there  was  a  tussle  over  the  question  of 
adjournment.  The  new  member  again  carried  his 
motion.  Meanwhile  I  opposed  the  canal  bill  as  vig 
orously  as  in  the  session  previous  to  the  resignation. 
When  the  two  weeks  came  along  there  was  no  quo 
rum  of  the  committee  present,  nor  was  there  at  a 
subsequent  meeting,  and  that  was  the  last  I  heard  of 
the  attempt  to  unseat  me. 

It  is  proper  to  add  that  I  had  not  a  doubt  of  the 
legality  of  my  election,  and  that  I  never  said  a  word 
on  the  subject  to  any  member  of  the  committee  nor 
to  Mr.  Weed.  But  I  presume  there  was  not  a  fool 
in  the  legislature  so  big  as  to  believe  that  Thuiiow 
Weed's  hand  was  not  in  the  matter. 

I  was  not  a  candidate  for  another  nomination  to 
the  Senate,  T  could  not  afford  to  be  a  member,  and  I 


THE   STATE   SENATE   IN    1849.  171 

had  no  desire  to  support  myself  on  "  the  drippings 
of  unclean  legislation." 

During  my  membership  the  presidents  of  the  Sen 
ate  were  Lieutenant-governors  Patterson  and  Church. 
In  the  front  rank  of  my  colleagues  stood  Edwin  D. 
Morgan,  afterwards  Governor  and  United  States  Sen 
ator  ;  James  M.  Cook,  subsequently  Comptroller  and 
Bank  Superintendent ;  Thomas  B.  Carroll,  who  be 
came  a  Canal  Appraiser,  and  Mayor  of  Troy ;  George 
Geddes,  the  accomplished  civil-engineer ;  William  A. 
Dart,  United  States  District-attorney  and  Consul-gen 
eral  to  Canada ;  George  E.  Babcock,  Charles  A.  Mann, 
Clarkson  Crolius,  James  W.  Beekman,  and  Dr.  Bran- 
dreth,  of  medical  fame.  We  were  the  second  senate 
chosen  under  the  Constitution  of  1846.  It  devolved 
on  us  to  pass  several  general  statutes  for  giving  effect 
to  provisions  of  that  radical  instrument,  especially  in 
regard  to  corporations.  Among  an  unusual  number 
of  important  measures  adopted  were  the  general  man 
ufacturing  law,  the  general  railroad  law,  the  general 
school  law,  and  a  complete  revision  of  the  then  very 
defective  code  of  procedure.  I  was  on  the  committee 
that  performed  this  last-mentioned  weary  task,  where 
in  we  were  guided  by  David  Dudley  Field,  Arphaxad 
Loomis,  John  C.  Spencer,  and  Nicholas  Hill. 

I  have  taken  part  in  the  election  of  five  senators  in 
Congress.  One  of  the  stormiest  conflicts  we  had  in 
the  legislature  of  1851  was  over  the  choice  of  a  Sena 
tor  to  succeed  Daniel  S.  Dickinson.  The  Whigs  held 
the  State  Senate  by  a  majority  of  two.  In  the  As 
sembly  they  had  a  good  working  majority.  Their 
caucus  nominated  Hamilton  Fish  for  Senator.  James 


172  KANDOM   EECOLLECTIONS. 

W.  Beekman,  a  Whig  Senator,  of  New  York  city, 
threw  out  the  hint  that  he  would  not  support  Fish, 
because  he  had  fallen  too  much  under  the  control  of 
Thurlow  Weed.  The  day  for  electing  the  Senator 
arrived.  Sixteen  Whigs  voted  for  Hamilton  Fish,  the 
fifteen  Democrats  voted  for  as  many  different  candi 
dates,  so  that  the  Fish  Whigs  could  not  double  over 
upon  them.  Beekman  voted  for  Francis  Granger. 
There  being  no  choice,  another  ballot  was  taken,  with 
the  same  result.  Thereupon  I  moved  that  the  Sen 
ate  adjourn.  The  roll  was  called.  The  sixteen  Fish 
Whigs  voted  nay,  and  the  fifteen  Democrats  and 
Beekman  voted  yea — a  tie.  The  movement  was  such 
a  surprise  to  Lieutenant-governor  Church  that  he  for 
got  to  give  the  casting  vote.  He  was  hurrying  down 
the  steps,  with  the  gavel  in  his  hand,  when  somebody 
pushed  him  back  to  the  chair,  and  he  announced  his 
vote  in  the  affirmative,  and  declared  the  Senate  ad 
journed,  amid  great  excitement.  All  this  while  the 
Assembly  was  slowly  going  through  the  roll,  and  it 
was  nearly  an  hour  after  we  had  adjourned  before 
they  had  nominated  Governor  Fish. 

However,  our  Whig  friends  lay  in  wait,  and  stole 
a  march  upon  us  a  few  weeks  later.  One  morning, 
when  two  Democratic  senators  were  in  New  York 
city,  they  sprung  a  resolution  upon  us,  to  go  into  the 
election  of  a  Senator  in  Congress.  After  an  unbroken 
struggle  of  fourteen  hours  Mr.  Fish  was  elected,  the 
exultant  cannon  of  the  victors  startling  the  city  from 
its  slumbers,  and  convincing  the  Silver  Grays  that 
the  Woolly  Heads  still  held  the  capitol. 

The  Democratic  policy  in  respect  to  the  canals  was 


HOFFMAN   AND    LOOMIS.  173 

mainly  due  to  Michael  Hoffman  and  Arpliaxad  Loomis, 
of  Herkimer,  who  represented  that  county  in  the  Con 
stitutional  Convention  of  1846,  and  often  appeared  as 
colleagues  in  the  Assembly.  In  1843  I  spent  a  week 
or  two  in  Albany,  and  frequently  dropped  into  the 
Assembly,  where  a  bill  in  regard  to  the  enlargement 
of  the  canals  was  pending.  For  four  days  the  debate 
shed  darkness  rather  than  light  over  the  subject,  and 
the  chamber  grew  murky.  One  morning  a  tallish 
man,  past  middle  age,  with  iron-gray  locks  drooping 
on  liis  shoulders,  and  wearing  a  mixed  suit  of  plain 
clothes,  took  the  floor  on  the  canal  bill.  I  noticed 
that  pens,  newspapers,  and  all  else  were  laid  down, 
and  every  eye  fixed  on  the  speaker.  I  supposed  he 
was  some  quaint  old  joker  from  the  backwroods,  who 
was  going  to  afford  the  House  a  little  fun.  The  first 
sentences  arrested  my  attention.  A  beam  of  light 
shot  through  the  darkness,  and  I  began  to  get  glimpses 
of  the  question  at  issue.  Soon  a  broad  belt  of  sun 
shine  spread  over  the  chamber.  I  asked  a  member, 
"  Who  is  that  ?"  "  Michael  Hoffman,"  was  the  reply. 
He  spoke  for  an  hour,  and  though  his  manner  was 
quiet  and  his  diction  simple,  he  was  so  methodical 
and  lucid  in  his  argument  that,  where  all  had  ap 
peared  confused  before,  everything  now  seemed  clear. 
Mr.  Hoffman  was  at  home  on  this  subject,  and  his 
speech  foreshadowed  the  articles  in  the  Constitution 
of  1S46  on  the  canals  and  the  finances. 

Judge  Loomis  was  a  leader  in  the  Convention  of 
1846,  on  the  questions  pertaining  to  the  judiciary  and 
the  legislature.  The  articles  on  these  subjects  were 
moulded  by  him.  He  subsequently  bore  a  conspicu- 


174  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

ous  part  in  defeating  the  New  York  Code  of  Proced 
ure,  whose  chief  elements  were  adopted  in  several 
other  states.  The  canal  law  of  1851  having  been  ad 
judged  unconstitutional,  it  devolved  upon  him  in  the 
legislature  of  1853  to  frame  and  carry  through  the 
new  constitutional  amendment  by  which  the  state 
tided  over  the  difficulty.  He  and  Mr.  Hoffman  ap 
proved  the  course  of  the  senators  who  resigned  to 
defeat  the  measure  of  1851. 

It  has  been  a  disputed  point  which  contained  the 
most  men  of  mark,  the  Whig  Assembly  of  1838, 
chosen  in  the  fall  that  witnessed  the  prostration  of 
Van  Buren's  administration  on  the  Sub-treasury  ques 
tion,  or  the  Democratic  Assembly  of  1842,  elected  in 
the  autumn  that  saw  the  overthrow  of  Tyler's  admin 
istration  on  the  Bank  question.  In  the  two  there  were 
fifty  members  that  subsequently  became  distinguished 
in  state  and  national  politics.  Horatio  Seymour  was 
in  the  Assembly  of  1842.  He  and  Sanford  E.  Church 
were  the  youngest  members.  Conspicuous  among 
their  seniors  stood  Michael  Hoffman  and  John  A. 
Dix.  "With  a  fine  address  and  excellent  debating 
powers,  Seymour  soon  became  a  leader  of  one  wing  of 
the  Democracy.  He  was  in  the  legislatures  of  1844 
and  1845,  which  were  agitated  by  the  state  issue  of 
the  enlargement  of  the  canals  and  the  national  issue 
of  the  annexation  of  Texas.  These  rent  the  Demo 
crats  in  New  York  asunder,  the  two  factions  being 
then  generally  called  Radicals  and  Conservatives,  and 
not  Barnburners  and  Hunkers,  as  at  a  little  later  date. 
Seymour  was  already  a  chieftain  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Conservatives.  He  measured  weapons  often  with  op- 


IIOKATIO    SEYMOUE. JOHN    VAN    BUEEN.  175 

ponents  in  the  legislature  like  Hoffman,  Dix,  and 
Loomis,  and  attained  the  high  position  in  the  Demo 
cratic  party  as  an  orator  and  a  manager  which  he 
held  through  his  long  public  career.  He  was  courte 
ous  towards  opponents  in  the  Assembly,  and  he  grace 
fully  recognized  their  exhibition  of  the  like  treatment 
of  himself.  He  went  into  a  glow  of  enthusiasm  many 
years  subsequent  to  the  occurrence,  as  he  told  me  of 
grim  Michael  Hoffman's  generous  course  after  he  had 
sharply  arraigned  the  veteran  Barnburner,  during  a 
bitter  debate  about  the  canals,  and  Silas  Wright,  and 
kindred  themes,  which  had  lasted  several  days.  One 
morning  Hoffman  rose  to  reply  to  Seymour,  but  on 
learning  that  he  was  ill  he  refused  to  deliver  his 
speech  for  two  or  three  days,  till  Seymour  was  able 
to  be  in  his  seat. 

I  shall  not  try  to  paint  a  portrait  of  John  Yan  Bu- 
ren,  the  brilliant  Barnburner.  There  could  hardly  be 
a  wider  contrast  between  two  men  than  the  space  that 
divided  the  Sage  of  Lindenwald  from  Prince  John. 
In  one  particular,  however,  they  were  alike.  Each 
had  that  personal  magnetism  that  binds  followers  to 
leaders  with  hooks  of  steel.  The  father  was  grave, 
urbane,  wary,  a  safe  counsellor,  and  accustomed  to 
an  argumentative  and  deliberate  method  of  address 
that  befitted  the  bar  and  the  Senate.  Few  knew  how 
able  a  lawyer  the  elder  Yan  Buren  was.  The  son  was 
enthusiastic,  frank,  bold,  and  given  to  wit,  repartee, 
and  a  style  of  oratory  admirably  adapted  to  swaying 
popular  assemblies.  The  younger  Yan  Buren,  too, 
was  a  sound  lawyer.  Some  of  his  admirers  were  wont 
to  tell  him  that  he  made  a  mistake  in  not  aiding  to 


176  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

lay  the  foundations  of  the  ^Republican  party  ;  "  for," 
said  they  in  1856,  "  if  you  had,  you  would  now  have 
been  where  Fremont  is."  "  Wait  and  let  us  see,"  was 
the  sarcastic  response,  "  how  Fremont  turns  out." 

I  heard  John  Van  Buren  relate  this  little  anecdote 
with  characteristic  humor :  When  he  was  Attorney- 
general  he  had  obtained  for  an  elderly  female  the 
valuable  monopoly  of  the  right  to  sell  apples,  cakes, 
and  candy  in  the  rotunda  of  the  State  Capitol.  She 
was  an  ardent  admirer  of  Prince  John,  and  a  vocife 
rous  Barnburner.  It  was  admitted  that  in  the  cam 
paign  of  1848  he  had  led  in  the  Democratic  revolt 
that  gave  the  thirty-six  electoral  votes  of  New  York 
to  General  Taylor,  which  defeated  General  Cass. 
When  the  Whigs  came  into  power  they  threatened 
to  turn  the  Barnburner  woman  out  of  the  Capitol. 
With  ruin  staring  her  in  the  face  she  repaired  to  her 
patron,  and  begged  him  to  save  her.  He  went  to 
Thurlow  Weed,  who  was  supposed  to  own  the  Whig 
party,  explained  the  case,  pleaded  his  services  in  the 
Presidential  campaign,  and  said  he  asked  only  the 
single  favor  of  the  salvation  of  the  apple-stand.  Mr. 
Weed  squeezed  the  hand  of  the  Prince,  shed  a  sym 
pathizing  tear,  and  hoped  he  might  be  able  to  pull 
the  old  woman  through.  But  when  the  tide  of  ad 
ministration  reform  reached  Albany  she  was  swept 
out  of  the  Capitol,  and  the  apple-stand  was  bestowed 
on  a  female  of  the  Whig  persuasion. 

The  last  time  I  saw  John  Van  Buren  was  before  he 
left  for  Europe,  to  make  a  final  effort  to  regain  his 
health.  I  was  on  the  Hudson  Eiver  Eallroad.  The 
conductor  said  a  gentleman  in  a  seat  farther  forward 


DEATH    OF   JOHN    VAN    BUREN.  177 

(pointing  to  it)  wished  to  see  me.  As  I  took  the 
proffered  place  by  his  side,  and  gave  him  a  puzzled 
look,  he  said,  "You  don't  know  me!"  The  tones  of 
his  voice  instantly  told  me  that  it  was  John  Yan 
Buren.  Though  faded,  wan,  and  feeble,  the  wit  re 
mained.  He  had  been  at  a  water-cure  establishment. 
"  Think  of  trying  to  bring  me  up  by  cold  water,"  re 
marked  the  Prince,  with  a  quiet  smile.  "  Why,"  he 
added,  "  as  they  put  me  in  a  pack  the  other  night, 
and  stowed  me  away  in  an  upper  loft,  where  the 
moonbeams  came  trickling  down  upon  me  through 
the  skylight,  I  felt  as  if  I  were  dead  and  laid  out." 

When,  after  wards,  I  heard  of  the  sad  death  of  my 
friend  in  mid-ocean,  I  recalled  the  lines  of  Scott : 

"  Fleet  foot  on  the  corrie, 

Sage  counsel  in  cumber, 
Red  hand  in  the  foray, 

How  sound  is  thy  slumber!" 

Mr.  Seymour  resisted  the  Barnburner  revolt  of 

1847,  and  supported  General  Cass  for  President  in 

1848.  But  he  warmly  espoused  the  movement  to  re 
unite  the  party  the  next  year.     He  was  in  advance  of 
Governor  Marcy  in  that  direction.     Seymour  pushed 
forward,  while  Marcy  hung  back.     Seymour  rather 
liked  the  Barnburners,  except  John  Yan  Buren,  of 
whom  he  was  quite  jealous  and  somewhat  afraid. 
But  Marcy,  after  the  experiences  of  1844  and  1848, 
denounced  them  in  hard  terms,  until  Seymour's  plas 
tic  hand  kneaded  him  into  a  Soft,  and  the  Free-soil 
Democrats  began  to  talk  of  him  for  President  in  1852, 
when  the  wily  old  Kegency  tactician  mellowed  tow 
ards  them.    Nothing  was  wanted  to  carry  Marcy  clear 


ITS  RANDOM    EECOLLECTIONS. 

over  except  the  hostility  of  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  who 
stood  in  his  way  to  the  White  House.  This  he  soon 
encountered,  and  this  reconciled  him  to  the  Barnburn 
ers.  Some  of  them,  however,  still  distrusted  him. 

The  resignation  of  senators  to  defeat  the  canal  bill 
led  to  a  great  meeting  in  the  Capitol  grounds  at  Al 
bany,  where  Horatio  Seymour,  who  had  been  beaten 
for  governor  the  previous  fall,  made  a  bold  speech  in 
their  defence.  Mr.  Seymour  was  then  among  the 
most  effective  and  eloquent  platform  orators  in  New 
York.  Less  electrical  than  John  Van  Buren,  he  was 
more  persuasive ;  less  witty,  he  was  more  logical ; 
less  sarcastic,  he  was  more  candid  ;  less  denunciatory 
of  antagonists,  he  was  more  convincing  to  opponents. 
They  were  rivals — one  carrying  the  standard  of  the 
Barnburners,  the  other  bearing  the  banner  of  the 
Hunkers.  But  on  the  canal  issue  they  were  in  accord, 
each  denouncing  the  unconstitutional  measure,  and 
applauding  the  retiring  senators.  Both  naturally 
took  to  statesmanship  of  a  high  order. 

I  frequently  spoke  on  the  same  platform  with  Sey 
mour  and  Van  Buren,  and  attended  state  and  na 
tional  conventions  with  each  of  them.  But  I  never 
met  both  of  them  at  the  same  time  on  the  same  plat 
form,  nor  in  the  same  convention.  These  two  re 
markable  men  had  little  in  common  except  lofty  am 
bition  and  rare  mental  and  social  gifts.  Their  salient 
characteristics  were  widely  dissimilar.  Seymour  was 
conciliatory,  and  cultivated  peace.  Yan  Buren  was 
aggressive,  and  coveted  war. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Whig  National  Convention  of  1852. — Webster's  Sad  Appearance. 
— General  Scott  Nominated  for  President. — Democratic  National 
Convention  of  1852.  —  Cass,  Buchanan,  Marcy,  Douglas,  and 
Dickinson  Aspirants. — An  Unexpected  Interview  by  the  Vir 
ginians. — New  York  Delegation  in  Private  Conference. — Threats 
to  Throw  Seymour  out  of  the  Window. — Marcy  and  Dickinson 
Slaughter  each  other. — Pierce  Nominated. — Dean  Richmond's 
"  Finality."— Pierce's  Cabinet. — Dix  Cheated,  and  Marcy  Called. 
• — Pierce  Approves  the  Missouri  Compromise  Repeal. — Rends 
the  Democratic  Party  Asunder.— Republican  Party  Formed  in 
1855-56.— Fremont  Nominated  for  President. — James  G.  Elaine. 
— Notices  of  Horace  Greeley,  Gerrit  Smith,  John  Jacob  Astor, 
John  Brown,  and  Martin  Van  Buren. — Brown  Handles  a  Rifle, 
and  Hits  the  Bull's-eye. — Van  Buren  Predicts  the  Overthrow  of 
Slavery  amid  Convulsions. 

THE  Whig  National  Convention  met  at  Baltimore 
in  May,  1852.  I  was  on  the  train  for  Washington. 
At  that  day  we  had  to  cross  the  mouth  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna  at  Havre  de  (rrace  by  ferryboat.  As  the 
passengers  were  descending  the  long,  steep  stairs  into 
the  gorge  I  saw  Mr.  Webster,  leaning  heavily  on  the 
arms  of  two  gentlemen,  and  surrounded  by  a  caval 
cade  of  friends.  He  was  a  candidate  for  the  Presi 
dency,  in  the  convention  then  about  to  assemble.  It 
was  a  sad  spectacle.  The  great  statesman  was  then 
so  shattered  in  health  that  four  months  afterwards 
he  sank  into  his  tomb.  But  though  a  wreck,  he  bore 
up  sturdily  while  clutching  at  the  glittering  prize 
he  had  so  long  pursued.  He  received  a  mortifyingly 


180  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

small  vote  in  the  convention.  General  Scott  carried 
off  the  nomination.  "  Oh,  Charles,"  exclaimed  Web 
ster  to  Mr.  Stetson,  of  the  Astor  House,  a  few  days 
afterwards,  "what  pains  me  is  that  the  South,  for 
which  I  had  done  and  sacrificed  so  much,  did  not  give 
me  a  single  vote !" 

General  Scott  made  a  tour  of  the  country,  exhibit 
ing  his  stalwart  figure,  and  discoursing  of  "the  rich 
Irish  brogue  and  the  sweet  German  accent."  He 
carried  only  the  four  states  of  Massachusetts,  Ver 
mont,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee.  It  was  the  end  of 
the  Whig  party.  The  slavery  controversy  destroyed 
Webster  in  the  convention,  Scott  at  the  polls,  and 
precipitated  that  grand  old  organization  into  a  fath 
omless  pit.  Close  behind  stood  the  Democrats,  giv 
ing  three  cheers  for  their  victory,  on  the  crumbling 
edge  of  the  chasm  that  had  engulfed  the  Whigs.  "  It 
is  an  irrepressible  conflict,"  said  Mr.  Seward. 

The  Democratic  National  Convention  at  Baltimore, 
in  1852,  was  a  struggle  for  the  nomination  to  the 
Presidency  between  Cass,  Buchanan,  Marcy,  and 
Douglas.  The  New  York  delegation  was  divided,  in 
the  proportion  of  twenty-three  for  Marcy,  whose 
leader  was  Horatio  Seymour,  and  thirteen  for  Cass, 
whose  leader  was  Daniel  S.  Dickinson.  It  soon  be 
came  apparent  that  Mr.  Dickinson  himself  was  a  can 
didate,  and  was  looking  for  success  to  a  combination 
between  a  large  share  of  the  supporters  of  Cass  and 
a  smaller  contingent  of  the  friends  of  Buchanan.  In 
deed,  Mr.  Dickinson  told  me  so.  The  ballotings  were 
many  and  wearisome,  each  of  the  aspirants  doing  his 
bost  to  pull  clown  his  rivals. 


DEMOCRATIC   CONVENTION   OF   1852.  181 

At  the  close  of  the  lirst  or  second  day  I  was  pass 
ing  through  the  hall  of  Barnum's  Hotel,  when,  to  my 
surprise,  I  was  invited  by  Dickinson  to  enter  a  room 
where  the  Virginia  delegation  (which  thus  far  had 
voted  for  Buchanan)  was  in  consultation.  After  an 
introduction,  and  a  statement  that  I  was  a  Barn 
burner,  the  chairman  asked  me  whether,  if  Mr.  Dick 
inson  were  to  receive  the  nomination,  he  could  carry 
New  York  I  Never  can  I  forget  the  anxious  look  of 
Dickinson  as  they  waited  for  the  answer.  I  promptly 
replied  that  Mr.  Dickinson,  and  Governor  Marcy,  and 
Mr.  Douglas,  and  any  other  man  whom  the  conven 
tion  nominated,  would  receive  the  electoral  vote  of 
New  York.  I  then  retired  from  this  very  unexpected 
interview.  Dickinson  followed  me,  thanked  me,  but 
regretted  that  I  had  mentioned  any  other  name  than 
his. 

The  next  morning  Virginia  voted  for  Dickinson. 
I  then  saw  what  the  interview  of  the  previous  day 
meant.  Dickinson  rose,  made  a  short  speech,  thanked 
Virginia,  and  begged  its  delegation  to  support  Gen 
eral  Cass.  This  was  the  keynote  for  the  combination 
on  Dickinson.  He  asked  me  if  I  thought  Virginia 
would  adhere  to  him,  and  I  frankly  told  him  "  No," 
for  I  had  reasons  for  regarding  its  vote  merely  as  a 
compliment.  Mr.  Dickinson's  friends  used  to  assert 
that  he  threw  away  the  Presidency  on  this  occasion. 
1  happened  to  know  better.  He  never  stood  for  a 
moment  where  he  could  control  the  Virginia  vote — 
the  hinge  whereon  all  was  to  turn.  The  convention 
generally  believed  that  the  result  in  November  would 
depend  on  New  York,  and  it  was  ready  to  accept  any 


182  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

candidate  upon  whom  the  delegates  from  that  state 
would  unite.  In  the  protracted  and  weary  ballotings 
Marcy  rose  steadily,  till  his  vote  reached  ninety-eight. 
The  New  York  delegation  then  retired  for  consulta 
tion.  The  convention  hall  and  its  adjoining  rooms 
were  over  a  market,  which  was  besieged  by  noisy 
carts  and  trucks.  One  of  the  rules  of  the  convention 
authorized  the  delegates  of  any  state  to  cast  its  vote 
for  such  candidates  as  the  majority  of  its  delegates 
might  direct.  In  the  retiring-room  Seymour  moved 
a  resolution  that  on  the  next  ballot  the  vote  of  New 
York  be  cast  solidly  for  William  L.  Marcy.  If  a 
bomb  had  exploded  among  them  it  could  hardly  have 
caused  more  excitement.  Oliver  Charlick,  a  super 
heated  Hunker  from  Long  Island,  threatened  to 
throw  Seymour  out  of  the  window  unless  he  with 
drew  the  resolution.  Seymour  saw  that  it  would  be 
unwise  to  force  a  united  vote  for  Marcy  in  the  face 
of  so  much  hostility,  and  he  finally  recalled  the  reso 
lution.  Perhaps,  too,  he  did  not  relish  the  idea  of 
being  thrown  into  the  street  among  the  struggling 
carts  and  trucks.  Thus  ended  the  chances  of  Marcy. 
In  this  style  it  was  that  Dickinson  and  Marcy,  the 
envenomed  rival  sachems,  scalped  each  other  in  the 
great  wigwam  at  Baltimore. 

On  the  next  ballot  (I  think  it  was  the  next)  Vir 
ginia  voted  for  Franklin  Pierce.  The  convention  was 
weary,  and  soon  the  stampede  came,  and  the  Newr 
Hampshire  brigadier  was  nominated. 

The  Barnburners  did  not  weep  over  the  defeat  of 
Marcy,  rejoiced  at  the  discomfiture  of  Cass,  and  were 
in  doubt  about  Pierce.  The  convention  had  adopt- 


PIEECE    FOE   PRESIDENT.  183 

eel  resolutions  declaring  the  Pro-slavery  Compromise 
Acts  of  1850  a  "  finality  "  on  that  subject.  On  the 
way  home  from  Baltimore  a  Hunker  was  teasing 
Dean  Richmond,  of  Buffalo,  by  telling  him  that  the 
proceedings  were  a  finality  on  the  Wilmot  Proviso. 
u  A  finality  on  Cass,"  was  the  swift  response  of  the 
bluff  Dean.  Though  so  destitute  of  all  literary  fur- 
nishment  as  to  be  scarcely  able  to  write  grammati 
cally,  Mr.  Richmond  carried  on  his  broad  shoulders 
one  of  the  clearest  heads  in  the  ranks  of  the  Barn 
burners. 

Pierce  was  elected  by  a  majority  so  large  that  it 
turned  his  weak  head.  He  was  a  calamity  to  the 
Democracy  and  the  nation.  He  yielded  to  unwise 
counsellors,  and  favored  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  which  rent  the  party  asunder  during  his 
official  term,  and  arrayed  against  him  a  large  body  of 
Jacksonian  Democrats  of  the  type  of  Thomas  II.  Ben- 
ton,  Sam  Houston,  and  Francis  P.  Blair,  senior.  This 
insane  measure  bore  bitter  fruits  in  the  perturbed  ad 
ministration  of  Buchanan,  and  ultimately  plunged  the 
country  into  one  of  the  most  portentous  and  bloody 
civil  wars  in  all  history.  In  the  construction  of  his 
cabinet  Pierce  was  a  dissembler.  Daniel  S.  Dickin 
son  was  urged  upon  him  for  a  place  by  an  enthusi 
astic  following,  but  he  spurned  the  distinguished  ex- 
Senator,  and  drove  him  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemies 
that  prevented  his  renomination  and  expelled  him 
from  power.  Pierce  first  promised  the  JNTew  York 
seat  in  his  Cabinet  to  General  Dix.  He  afterwards 
gave  it  to  Governor  Marcy.  Dix  was  consoled  Avith 
the  pledge  that  he  should  soon  be  sent  as  Minister  to 


184:  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Paris,  but  was  meanwhile  set  to  watching  the  vaults 
of  the  New  York  sub-treasury.  He  sat  there  wearily 
through  the  spring,  summer,  and  fall,  waiting  for  the 
French  mission  to  turn  up.  I  accidentally  met  him 
on  Broadway  on  the  morning  when  Pierce's  first  an 
nual  message  appeared,  and  asked  him  how  he  liked 
it.  "  It  is  a  good  message,"  said  he.  He  then  added, 
with  a  spice  of  bitterness  in  his  tone,  u  If  I  can  say 
this  I  think  anybody  can  afford  to."  If  General  Dix 
had  not  believed  that  the  holding  of  some  office  was 
essential  to  his  existence  he  would  have  thrown  his 
sub-treasury  commission  in  the  face  of  the  President 
who  had  deceived  him.  It  would  be  difficult  to  name 
any  other  man  in  this  country  who  filled  so  many 
important  offices,  and  so  acceptably,  as  John  A.  Dix. 
The  precise  date  of  the  organization  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  in  the  nation  is  in  dispute.  In  New  York 
it  was  reduced  to  form,  at  Syracuse,  in  the  fall  of  1855. 
Its  component  elements  were  Anti- slavery  Whigs, 
Barnburner  Democrats,  Abolitionists  proper,  and  Free- 
soil  KnoAV-Nothings.  Committees  of  conference,  in 
which  Thurlow  Weed  and  Preston  King  were  promi 
nent  figures,  settled  the  preliminaries,  and  the  new  par 
ty  assembled  in  Weiting  Hall,  with  Reuben  E.  Fenton, 
of  the  Barnburner  wing,  filling  the  chair.  I  helped 
to  launch  the  new  party,  and  then,  on  the  afternoon 
train  of  that  day,  by  request  of  Henry  C.  Martindale, 
who  was  subsequently  Attorney-General  of  the  state 
and  Major-General  in  the  army,  I  went  to  Rochester 
and  delivered  a  Republican  speech.  Of  course,  I  was 
quite  at  home  on  the  slavery  topic.  My  address  was 
reported,  and  generally  copied  in  New  York.  I  sub- 


FREMONT    BEATS    SEWARD.  185 

sequently  spoke  in  Buffalo  with  Governor  Seward, 
and  addressed  other  large  meetings  in  that  campaign. 
Our  first  venture  on  this  stormy  sea  was  not  success 
ful.  Our  state  ticket  was  submerged  in  the  3£now- 
Kothing  breakers. 

The  Fierce  administration  repealed  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  This  precipitated  the  doom  of  slavery. 
The  Republican  party  Avas  the  legitimate  outcome. 
I  helped  to  organize  it  in  the  state  of  New  York,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  National  Convention  at  Phila 
delphia,  in  1856,  which  nominated  Fremont  and  Day 
ton.  I  delivered  numerous  addresses  in  their  support 
from  Maine  to  Ohio.  The  Philadelphia  Convention 
was  opened  with  prayer  by  Rev.  Albert  Barnes.  Colo 
nel  Harvey  S.  Lane,  of  Indiana,  presided,  and  occa 
sionally  rapped  on  the  table  with  his  boot-heels  to 
preserve  order.  James  G.  Blaine  was  one  of  the  sec 
retaries.  Lane,  afterwards  senator  in  Congress,  was 
nearly  as  tall  as  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  led  the  cheers 
for  Lincoln  at  Chicago  in  1860.  "When  that  fel 
low  Lane,"  exclaimed  a  disgusted  Seward  delegate, 
"  jumped  on  the  table  with  his  hat  on  his  uplifted 
cane  and  screamed  for  Lincoln  he  looked  as  if  he  were 
thirty  feet  high." 

The  feeble  cause  I  had  espoused  at  Cincinnati  in 
1832  rested,  in  1856,  on  the  broad  shoulders  of  a  strong 
party  which  was  marching  on  to  victory. 

Whenever  I  think  of  Horace  Greeley  the  scene  rises 
before  me  of  a  flaxen-haired  boy  in  a  log-cabin  in  a 
cleft  of  the  Green  Mountains,  lying  on  the  hearth, 
after  a  hard  day's  work  in  a  scrubby  field,  reading  a 
book  by  the  blaze  of  pine-knots.  But  these  pine- 


186  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

knots  lighted  the  barefooted  youth  to  the  path  that 
led  to  great  achievements  and  enduring  fame. 

I  first  met  Greeley  on  the  front  stairs  of  a  Graham 
boarding-house  in  New  York  city,  where  he  was  liv 
ing  on  bran-bread  and  cold  water.  He  was  then  ed 
itor  of  the  New  -  Yorker,  a  journal  of  which  he  was 
justly  proud.  The  encounter  on  the  stairway  was  ac 
cidental.  His  wife,  fresh  from  North  Carolina,  had 
sunk  down  at  that  rather  inconvenient  spot  in  a  sort 
of  hysterical  swoon,  and  seemed  so  reluctant  to  yield 
her  vantage-ground  that  ingress  and  egress  by  the 
boarders  were  only  possible  by  carefully  stepping  over 
her.  Mr.  Greeley,  with  a  deprecatory  air,  was  bend 
ing  down,  and  in  soothing  tones  was  trying  to  per 
suade  her  to  seek  a  more  comfortable  resting-place. 
Early  friends  of  the  wedded  pair  will  recall  the  fact 
that  they  became  acquainted  at  this  William  Street 
hostelry,  and  that  their  espousals  were  chronicled  in 
some  pleasant  verses  that  bore  the  refrain,  "  Maid  of 
the  Graham-house,  sunny  and  sweet !" 

As  an  illustration  of  the  vicissitudes  of  journalism, 
while  at  the  same  time  pointing  to  a  great  political 
error,  I  will  relate  the  following  anecdote :  The  first 
report  that  came  from  the  Liberal  National  Conven 
tion  of  1872  stated  that  Charles  Francis  Adams  was 
nominated  for  President.  Happening  to  be  in  the 
Sun  office,  Mr.  Dana  asked  me  to  write  an  article  on 
the  subject.  I  went  to  my  law-office,  and  spent  three 
hours  in  preparing  three  columns  of  what  I  thought 
was  excellent  matter,  including  a  rather  imposing 
sketch  of  the  Adams  family,  from  the  first  John 
down  to  the  alleged  Liberal  nominee.  On  returning 


HORACE   GEEELEY.  187 

to  the  StDi  rooms  with  my  editorial,  imagine  my  sur 
prise  to  learn  that  Horace  Greeley,  and  not  an  Ad 
ams  of  any  sort,  was  the  candidate.  I  cast  my  labored 
production  into  the  waste-basket,  and  went  home. 

The  campaign  of  1872  was  a  blunder  on  the  part  of  ! 
those  who  opposed  the  re-election  of  Grant.  If  the 
bolting  Republicans  had  nominated  Greeley,  and  the 
regular  Democrats  had  presented  a  candidate  like 
Horatio  Seymour,  for  instance,  General  Grant  would 
have  been  defeated.  But  it  proved  to  be  impossible 
to  persuade  a  large  class  of  Democrats  to  vote  for/ 
"the  founder  of  the  New  York  Tribune" 

My  last  glimpse  of  Horace  Greeley  was  soon  after 
the  election  of  1872.  He  darted  out  of  the  Tribune 
office,  ran  against  me,  and  started  down  Park  Row  at 
a  rapid  pace.  I  contrived  to  keep  up  with  him,  and 
followed  him  into  a  street-car  at  the  Astor  House. 
On  accosting  him  he  gave  me  a  wild  stare  that  alarmed 
me.  I  inquired  after  his  health,  and  he  replied,  "  I 
have  ruined  all  my  friends  in  the  election,  and  now 
they  are  destroying  me."  A  few  more  words  satisfied 
me  that  his  mind  was  clouded.  How  sad  was  his  end ! 

Gerrit  Smith  helped  to  quarry  the  corner-stone  of 
the  Republican  party.  He  was  the  very  friend  of  the 
slave.  His  purse  was  always  open  for  the  promotion 
of  their  cause.  When  I  was  a  secretary  of  the  Amer 
ican  Anti-slavery  Society  he  placed  in  my  hands  at 
one  time  his  check  for  $10,000  for  its  treasury — a  sum 
equal  to  $25,000  now.  He  was  the  protector  and 
patron  of  runaway  negroes  who  followed  the  fort 
unes  of  the  Xorth  Star.  Forty  years  ago,  at  his  pa 
latial  mansion  in  Peterboro',  and  which  looked  like 


188  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  country-seat  of  an  English  nobleman,  it  would  be 
singular  if  you  did  not  find  among  the  fashionable 
guests  from  New  York,  Albany,  and  Philadelphia 
surrounding  his  hospitable  board  at  least  one  or  two 
fugitive  slaves.  Indeed — and  especially  in  the  sum 
mer  season — his  visitors  were  of  the  most  miscellane 
ous  and  amusing  description.  There  you  might  meet 
a  dozen  wealthy  and  refined  visitors  from  the  metro 
politan  cities ;  a  sprinkling  of  negroes  from  the  sunny 
South  on  their  way  to  Canada ;  a  crazy  Millerite  or 
two,  who,  disgusted  with  the  world,  thought  it  des 
tined  to  be  burned  up  at  an  early  day  ;  an  adventurer 
who  wanted  Mr.  Smith  to  invest  largely  in  some  ut 
terly  impracticable  patent  right,  while  the  throng 
would  be  checkered  with  three  or  four  Indians  of  the 
neighborhood,  the  remnants  of  the  once  powerful 
Oneidas,  who  remembered  the  father,  and  felt  pretty 
sure  that  they  could  get  something  out  of  his  munifi 
cent  son.  The  high-born  guests  had  come  to  enjoy 
themselves  during  the  summer  solstice  at  this  fine 
rural  retreat,  and  they  always  had  a  good  time.  As 
to  the  rest,  they  were  never  sent  empty  away,  espe 
cially  the  negroes  and  the  Indians,  the  former  accept 
ing  cash  in  hand  and  good  advice  about  the  best  route 
to  Canada,  while  the  latter  departed  in  good  time 
with  shoulders  stooping  under  burdens  of  flour,  beef, 
and  other  edibles.  But  Mr.  Smith  never  was  known 
to  invest  in  any  of  the  patent  rights,  and  he  took  not 
a  single  share  of  stock  in  the  scheme  for  burning  up 
the  world. 

I  was,  many  years  ago,  riding  with  Gerrit  Smith  in 
one  of  the  counties  of  northern  New  York.     lie  sud- 


SMITH    AND   ASTOK.  180 

denly  stopped  the  carriage,  and,  looking  around  for  a 
few  minutes,  said,  "  We  are  now  on  some  of  my  poor 
land,  familiarly  known  as  the  John  Brown  tract ;" 
and  he  then  added,  "  I  own  eight  hundred  thousand 
acres,  of  which  this  is  a  part,  and  all  in  one  piece." 
Everybody  knows  that  Judge  Peter  Smith,  his  father, 
purchased  the  most  of  this  land  at  sales  by  the  comp 
troller  of  the  state  for  unpaid  taxes,  and  left  it  by  will 
to  his  son  Gerrit.  He  said  that  he  owned  land  in  fifty- 
six  of  the  sixty  counties  in  New  York.  Some  of 
this  brought  him  a  handsome  income,  though  he  gave 
a  good  deal  of  it  away  years  before  he  died.  He  was 
also  a  landholder  in  other  states  of  the  Union. 

Early  in  1837  Mr.  Smith's  father  died,  leaving  a 
large  estate  to  Gerrit,  charged  with  heavy  legacies 
and  debts.  Two  or  three  months  after  the  decease 
of  his  father  the  well-remembered  panic  of  1837  oc 
curred.  The  banks  had  suspended  specie  payments, 
and  could  afford  Mr.  Smith  no  loans  to  meet  pressing 
obligations.  So  embarrassed  was  he  that  his  counsel 
advised  him  to  make  an  assignment  of  his  property 
for  the  benelit  of  his  creditors.  Mr.  Smith  declined 
to  make  the  assignment  until  he  had  first  conferred 
with  the  elder  John  Jacob  Astor,  the  old  friend  of  his 
father.  Smith  wrote  to  Astor,  and  informed  him  of 
his  situation,  and  said  that,  if  possible,  he  w^ould  be 
glad  if  he  could  make  him  a  loan,  and  take  such  secu 
rity  therefor  as  he  had  to  offer.  Mr.  Astor  invited 
him  to  come  to  New  York  and  talk  the  matter  over. 
He  came,  and  dined  with  the  great  millionaire.  As 
tor,  of  course,  knew  his  errand,  but,  during  the  pro 
tracted  dinner,  seemed  more  inclined  to  tell  anecdotes 


190  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

about  his  excursions  thirty  and  forty  years  before 
with  Peter  Smith  up  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk  than 
to  listen  to  details  about  Gerrit  Smith's  present  obli 
gations  and  the  value  of  the  property  which  he  could 
put  under  mortgage.  As  they  sat  at  the  hospitable 
board  Mr.  Astor  would  frequently  break  in  with  the 
enthusiastic  exclamation,  "  Why,  Gerrit,  how  much 
you  do  look  as  your  father  used  to  when  he  and  I 
went  up  the  Mohawk  among  the  Indians  after  furs !" 
At  length  they  came  down  to  business,  and  Mr.  Astor 
asked  Smith  how  much  of  a  loan  he  wanted.  He 
told  him  8250,000.  "  Do  you  want  it  immediately, 
and  all  at  once?"  said  Astor.  "I  do,"  said  Gerrit. 
"  Then  you  shall  have  it."  It  was  arranged  that 
Smith  should  give  Astor  a  mortgage  on  his  Oswego 
water-power,  for  which  Smith  had  paid  $14,000  about 
fifteen  years  before,  for  this  loan  of  $250,000.  Mr. 
Smith  returned  to  Peterboro',  and  in  three  or  four 
days  received  Mr.  Astor's  check  by  mail  for  $250,000. 
He  made  out  the  mortgage  and  sent  it  to  Oswego  to 
be  recorded,  with  directions  to  mail  it  to  Mr.  Astor 
as  soon  as  it  was  inscribed  on  the  records.  Smith 
went  on  using  the  money,  and  supposed  that  all  had 
gone  right  about  the  forwarding  of  the  mortgage. 
After  a  delay  of  several  weeks,  judge  of  his  surprise 
at  receiving  a  letter  from  Mr.  Astor,  sa}dng  that  he 
was  afraid  that  his  friend  Smith  had  forgotten  to 
make  out  that  mortgage  which  they  talked  about 
when  he  was  last  in  the  city.  Smith  hastened  to  Os 
wego,  and  found  that,  through  some  stupidity,  the 
county  clerk  had  forgotten  to  mail  the  mortgage  to 
Astor,  although  it  had  been  duly  and  seasonably  re- 


JOHN    BBOWN.  191 

corded.  Of  course  it  was  now  sent  forward,  accom 
panied  oy  an  appropriate  explanation.  Thus,  for  sev 
eral  weeks,  John  Jacob  Astor  had  nothing  but  Gerrit 
Smith's  word  for  a  loan  of  8250,000.  This  incident 
lets  in  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  characters  of  these 
two  remarkable  men. 

I  have  not  space  to  give  even  a  list  of  the  martyrs 
who  endured  pains  and  penalties  unto  death  in  the 
Anti-slavery  cause.  The  tears  of  an  enfranchised 
race  will  bedew  their  graves,  and  an  appreciative 
posterity  will  erect  monuments  to  their  memory. 
One  well  -  remembered  figure  looms  on  my  vision 
from  his  lonely  resting-place  in  the  Adirondacks.  I 
met  John  Brown  but  once,  and  then  unexpectedly,  at 
Gerrit  Smith's.  Mr.  Smith's  son,  Green,  was  a  sports 
man,  lie  had  an  assortment  of  rifles,  and  was  a  fair 
shot.  After  dinner  Green  went  out  with  a  couple  of 
companions  to  fire  at  a  target.  I  was  looking  on 
when  Captain  Brown  appeared  on  the  scene.  The 
firing  was  rather  wild.  Brown  watched  awhile,  and 
then  closely  examined  the  rifles,  selected  one,  loaded 
it,  and  faced  the  target,  lie  pointed  the  weapon  at 
the  ground,  Avith  his  eye  on  the  barrel,  raised  it  rap 
idly,  and  the  instant  it  came  to  a  level  he  fired,  and 
hit  the  bull's  eye  right  in  the  centre.  Handing  the 
rifle  to  Green  Smith,  he  said,  with  a  grim  smile, 
'•Boys,  that  is  the  way  to  shoot,"  and  slowly  re 
turned  to  the  house.  Soon  after  Brown's  execution 
an  editorial  from  my  pen  appeared  in  the  New  York 
Tribune,  which  I  am  willing  should  stand  as  my  opin 
ion  of  his  character  and  deeds.  He  will  fill  a  unique 
niche  in  American  history.  The  echo  of  his  fame  will 


192  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

reverberate  along  the  colonnades  of  the  centuries,  and 
preserve  from  oblivion  the  names  of  those  who  put 
him  to  death. 

In  1858  I  had  the  pleasure  of  spending  a  day  at 
the  hospitable  mansion  of  ex-President  Yan  Buren, 
near  Kinderhook.  The  Sage  of  Lindenwald  was  in 
structive  and  entertaining.  The  most  interesting  por 
tion  of  his  conversation  related  to  slavery.  Kefer- 
ring  to  the  campaign  of  1848,  he  said  that  his  utter 
ances  on  that  great  evil  were  his  matured  convictions. 
"  I  have  nothing  to  modify  or  change,"  he  remarked. 
With  serious  earnestness  he  added,  "  The  end  of  sla 
very  will  come — amid  terrible  convulsions,  I  fear,  but 
it  will  come."  A  word  about  Mr.  Yan  Buren's  per 
sonal  following.  Has  it  ever  been  equalled  by  any 
other  New  York  statesman?  In  the  contest  of  1848 
he  carried  over,  on  a  bolt  from  the  regular  Presiden 
tial  nominee,  more  than  half  the  Democratic  voters 
in  the  state.  How  few  Governor  Seward  was  able 
to  lead  over  to  Andrew  Johnson's  " policy"  in  the 
election  of  1866 !  I  feel  constrained  to  pay  peculiar 
honors  to  Mr.  Yan  Buren  for  the  course  he  and  his 
followers  pursued  in  1847-48  in  regard  to  the  ex 
tension  of  slavery.  Their  protest  at  the  ballot-boxes 
in  that  crucial  emergency  was  the  turning-point  in 
the  great  controversy  that  ultimated,  fifteen  3Tears 
later,  in  the  overthrow  of  the  "  institution "  and  the 
preservation  of  the  Union.  But  for  the  aid  of  Dem 
ocrats  who  had  been  trained  in  the  school  of  Martin 
Yan  Buren,  Silas  Wright,  and  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  the 
Union  and  the  Constitution  might  perhaps  have  gone 
to  pieces  in  the  terrible  epoch  of  1861-65. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

William  H.  Seward  as  Senator. — Scward  on  Weed. — Seward  Un 
bending. —  Seward  and  Judge  Sackett.  —  Weed  the  "State 
Fifer." — Seward  and  Conkling.— Conkling  Elected  to  Congress 
in  1858. — Seward  on  Greeley. — John  Sherman,  Candidate  for 
Speaker. — Tom  Convin  as  an  Orator. — The  Jewish  Rabbi  Prays. 
— Henry  Winter  Davis. — Pcnnington  Chosen  Speaker.— Slidcll's 
Bill  to  Purchase  Cuba.— Wade  and  Toombs  in  Close  Contact. — 
"Land  for  the  Landless  versus  Niggers  for  the  Niggerless." — 
Scene  in  the  Senate  in  1859  between  Benjamin  and  Seward. — 
Seward  Smokes  Benjamin's  Cigar. — Scene  in  the  Senate  in  1834 
between  Clay  and  Van  Burcn. — Van  Buren  Takes  a  Pinch  of 
Clay's  Snuff. 

MR.  SEWARD  represented  New  York  in  the  Senate 
in  a  grand  and  memorable  era.  He  rose  to  the  level 
of  his  responsibilities,  and  was  courageous,  sagacious, 
sincere,  and  earnest.  He  led  a  forlorn  hope  against 
formidable  foes,  over  which  the  cause  he  championed 
finally  triumphed.  He  was  grave  in  argument  and 
dignified  in  demeanor,  and,  though  rhetorical  and 
even  ornate  in  style,  he  never  indulged  in  those  flashy 
flippances  that  sometimes  succeed  in  palming  them 
selves  off  as  wit,  but  which  legitimate  wit  repudiates 
as  a  bastard  progeny. 

Since  Mr.  Dickinson  and  General  Dix  left  the  Sen 
ate,  Xew  York  has  sent  several  respectable  members 
to  that  body,  but  no  really  able  men,  when  measured 
by  a  lofty  standard,  except  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Conk 
ling.  Mr.  Evarts  is  yet  to  be  thorpughly  tried  on 
9 


194:  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

this  new  field.  He  doubtless  remembers  that  Erskine, 
one  of  the  greatest  advocates  that  ever  addressed  an 
English  jury,  and  Jeffrey,  who  shone  so  brilliantly  in 
the  Scotch  courts,  failed  in  Parliament.  The  many- 
sided  men  like  Brougham  and  Webster  are  few  in 
number. 

Nobody  knew  better  than  Mr.  Seward  that,  if  he 
had  been  the  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  1S56,  he 
would  have  received  the  same  vote  that  Fremont  did, 
and  that  his  nomination  in  1860  would  have  inevita 
bly  followed,  and  he  would  have  entered  the  White 
House  instead  of  Lincoln.  Mr.  Seward  more  than 
hinted  to  confidential  friends  that  Mr.  Weed  betrayed 
him  for  Fremont. 

Mr.  Weed  himself  told  the  following  story  :  He  and 
Mr.  Seward  were  riding  up  Broadway,  and  when  pass 
ing  the  bronze  statue  of  Lincoln,  in  Union  Square, 
Seward  said :  "  Weed,  if  you  had  been  faithful  to  me, 
I  should  have  been  there  instead  of  Lincoln."  "  Sew 
ard,"  replied  Weed,  "  is  it  not  better  to  be  alive  in  a 
carriage  with  me  than  to  be  dead  and  set  up  in 
bronze  ?" 

At  the  close  of  the  Fremont  campaign  some  mon 
ey  remained  in  the  treasury  of  the  National  Commit 
tee.  William  M.  Chace,  of  Providence,  the  secretary, 
favored  its  expenditure  on  the  famous  "  Helper  Book." 
Edwin  D.  Morgan,  the  chairman,  would  consent  to 
this,  if  Mr.  Weed  advised  it.  Being  at  Washington 
in  the  winter  of  1857-58,  I  met  Mr.  Chace,  who  had 
come  there  for  the  rather  queer  purpose  of  requesting 
Mr-  Seward  to  request  Mr.  Weed  to  request  Mr.  Mor 
gan  to  adopt  Chace's  plan  for  the  disposal  of  this 


SEWARD    ON    WEED.  195 

money.  Chacc  not  knowing  Mr.  Seward  personally, 
I  went  one  evening  to  his  house  to  introduce  him. 
The  Senator  was  alone  with  his  after-dinner  cigar. 
Chace  explained  his  case  to  his  attentive  listener,  I 
sitting  near,  reading  a  newspaper.  The  Senator  puffed 
out  a  cloud  of  smoke  and  began  to  talk  in  that  delib 
erate  style  so  familiar  to  his  friends.  "  Mr.  Chace,  I 
understand  'you  want  me  to  speak  to  Mr.  Weed,  and 
request  him  to  advise  Mr.  Morgan  to  make  a  certain 
disposition  of  the  funds  in  question  ?"  Mr.  Chace 
bowed.  "Mr.  Chace,"  resumed  the  Senator,  "Mr. 
Weed  is  a  very  peculiar  man.  He  is  a  very  secretive 
man.  He  is  an  unfathomable  man.  He  thinks  I  am 
always  driving  everything  to  the  devil.  But  through 
out  my  public  life  he  has  told  me  to  do  this  or  that 
particular  thing,  and  I  have  done  it.  He  has  told  me 
not  to  do  this  or  that,  and  I  have  refrained  from  do 
ing  it.  Whether  in  all  this  he  was  cheating  me  or 
cheating  somebody  else  (for  I  take  it  for  granted  ho 
is  always  cheating  somebody),  I  don't  know."  He 
then  suggested  to  Mr.  Chace  to  go  to  Senator  Simon 
Cameron,  and  tell  him  he  had  sent  him,  and  take  his 
advice  in  the  matter  of  the  funds.  Some  congress 
men  dropped  in,  and  Chace  and  I  left.  We  did  not 
speak  for  a  block  or  two.  My  Rhode  Island  coadju 
tor  then  jerked  my  arm,  burst  into  a  laugh,  and  said, 
"  Did  you  ever  hear  anything  equal  to  that  ?" 

We  never  know  a  public  man  till  we  see  him  in  un 
dress.  Webster  in  a  boat  at  Marshfield,  with  a  fish 
ing-rod  in  his  hand,  was  a  different  person  from  Web 
ster  in  the  Senate  holding  spellbound  the  ('lite  of  the 
nation.  Mr.  Seward  was  an  intense  toiler  in  the  thorny 


IDG  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

field  of  politics.  He  delighted  to  throw  off  his  bur 
den,  and  unbend  in  a  small  circle  of  friends.  At  Sen 
eca  Falls  there  resided  Garry  Y.  Sackett,  whom  Sew 
ard,  when  Governor,  had  appointed  a  judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas.  He  was  a  gentleman  farmer,  large 
and  stately  in  person,  and  dressed  in  the  style  of 
Webster.  He  was  on  familiar  terms  with  Seward, 
took  great  liberties  with  him,  and  the  Senator  often 
came  to  Seneca,  and  had  a  free-and-easy  round  of 
fun.  Sackett  did  not  know  as  much  as  he  thought 
he  did,  and  Seward  sometimes  made  a  butt  of  him 
and  roared  with  laughter,  though  the  Judge  would 
occasionally  make  reprisals  on  the  spot.  When  the 
Senator  visited  the  Judge,  I  was  generally  called  in, 
and  sometimes  the  young  people  of  the  village  were 
invited  for  the  evening.  The  latter  looked  with  awe 
upon  the  distinguished  statesman  from  Auburn. 

Daring  one  afternoon,  Seward  had  been  firing  his 
teasing  arrows  at  Sackett.  In  the  evening,  the  Judge, 
arrayed  in  full  Websterian  costume,  posed  before  a 
houseful  of  young  people,  and  went  for  the  Senator. 
He  brought  out  and  pinned  on  the  wall  the  famous 
caricature  in  which,  when  Seward  was  Governor, 
Thurlow  Weed  is  depicted  as  the  state  fifer,  with  the 
principal  state  officers  marching  in  Indian  file  behind 
him,  and  straining  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  keep 
up  with  the  musician,  who  is  blowing  at  the  top  of  his 
bent.  Indeed,  the  little  Governor,  in  trying  to  tread 
in  the  tracks  of  the  tall  fifer,  had  torn  his  trousers  at 
rather  a  delicate  spot.  The  likenesses  were  perfect. 
The  picture  was  widely  circulated,  and  it  so  closely 
accorded  with  the  jeers  in  the  Democratic  newspapers 


SEWARD    OX    SACKETT.  197 

that  it  was  very  annoying  to  Mr.  Seward  even  after 
he  became  Senator,  for  Mr.  Weed,  in  popular  estima 
tion,  was  still  "  The  Dictator." 

On  the  occasion  referred  to,  Sackett  elaborately 
explained  the  picture  to  the  youngsters  in  the  pres 
ence  of  Seward,  telling  what  a  great  leader  Weed 
was,  how  obediently  the  Governor  followed  him,  how 
closely  even  to  that  day  he  kept  step  with  him  (at 
this  point  seemingly  trying  to  conceal  the  rent  in  his 
trousers),  assuring  the  deeply  interested  listeners  that 
Seward  owed  his  success  in  politics  wholly  to  Weed ; 
and  then,  looking  over  his  shoulder  to  where  Seward 
sat  smoking,  exclaimed,  "Is  not  that  so,  Governor?" 
The  response  came  back,  "  Sackett,  you  are  a  fool. 
Go  and  get  me  another  cigar." 

At  another  time,  before  Mr.  Seward  and  a  like  au 
dience,  and  to  "  get  even  "  with  the  teasing  Senator, 
the  Judge  told  the  story  of  his  visit  to  the  Anti-rent 
ers,  in  the  Helderberg,  in  company  with  Seward,  soon 
after  he  was  chosen  Governor.  The  Anti-renters  were 
making  an  uproar.  The  legislature  had  authorized  a 
commission  to  consider  their  grievances,  and  Mr.  Sew 
ard  had  appointed  Sackett  one  of  the  commissioners. 
The  latter  proposed  that  they  visit  the  troubled  dis 
trict,  the  young  Governor  assented,  notice  was  sent  out 
three  or  four  days  ahead,  and  they  rode  to  the  Hel 
derberg  in  a  stately  barouche  drawn  by  four  horses. 
Long  afterwards,  on  due  provocation,  at  Seneca  Falls, 
Sackett  took  reprisals  of  the  bantering  Senator  after 
dinner,  by  describing  the  scene  at  Helderberg.  He 
said  that  when  the  barouche  arrived,  several  hundred 
Anti-renters  were  on  the  ground.  Sackett,  standing 


198  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

six  feet  two  inches  high,  and  dressed  in  imposing  cos 
tume,  got  out  first.  The  crowd  rushed  upon  him,  sa 
luted  him  as  Governor,  and  gave  three  cheers.  The 
commissioner  lifted  his  gold-headed  cane  high  in  air, 
and  exclaimed,  "  Stop,  gentlemen  !  You  have  made 
the  same  mistake  that  the  people  of  New  York  made 
last  fall.  They  doubtless  ought  to  have  chosen  me 
Governor,  but,  instead,  they  elected  this  man,  whom 
I  present  to  you  as  William  II.  Seward."  Sackett, 
then  addressing  the  dinner-party,  would  add,  with 
great  relish, "  You  ought  to  have  seen  how  the  crowd 
fell  back  when  I  introduced  Seward  as  the  Governor. 
He  was  clambering  out  of  the  carriage  while  they 
were  giving  me  the  three  cheers,  and  many  of  them 
said  they  didn't  believe  that  little  man  was  the  Gov 
ernor."  Then  turning  to  the  Senator,  he  said, "  Wasn't 
it  a  funny  scene,  Seward !"  The  Senator  replied  that 
when  the  commissioners  went  into  the  Helderberg  to 
take  testimony,  Sackett  wasted  all  their  time  in  tell 
ing  preposterous  stories  that  nobody  believed. 

In  1858  Roscoe  Conkling  was  the  Republican  can 
didate  for  Congress  in  Oneida.  Mr.  O.  B.  Matteson, 
who  had  previously  represented  this  district,  was 
zealously  opposing  him.  Matteson  had  long  been  a 
personal  friend  of  Mr.  Seward.  Hard  pressed,  Mr. 
Conkling  sent  for  Mr.  Seward  and  myself  to  address 
a  county  meeting  at  Rome.  I  was  called  to  keep  the 
Republican  Barnburners  in  line  for  Conkling.  Mr. 
Seward  was  summoned  to  counteract  the  effect  of 
Matteson's  hostility.  Wrapped  in  a  blue  broadcloth 
cloak,  with  elegant  trimmings,  Conkling  surveyed  the 
large  audience  with  anxious  eye.  I  spoke  first,  eulo- 


SEWAED    ON    CONKLIXG.  199 

gizing  Seward  and  Conkling.  The  Senator  commenced 
his  address  with  a  hearty  encomium  upon  Matteson, 
by  way  of  preface  to  the  matter  in  hand.  He  then 
spoke  generally  in  support  of  the  Republican  cause, 
and  eloquently  commended  his  young  friend  Conk- 
lino;  to  the  voters  of  Oneida.  I  have  been  told  that 

O 

this  eulogium  of  Mr.  Matteson  was  retained  in  the 
published  report  of  Mr.  Seward's  speech  under  the 
special  direction  of  Mr.  Seward,  and  against  the  ear 
nest  protest  of  Mr.  Conkling' s  friends.  The  next  morn 
ing  I  went  to  Utica,  and  was  amused  to  see  that  near 
ly  the  only  notice  taken  of  the  Home  meeting,  by  the 
general  press,  was  a  full  report  of  Mr.  Seward's  eulo 
gium  on  Mr.  Matteson.  This,  of  course,  would  go  the 
grand  rounds  of  the  newspapers  in  the  state.  I  met 
Mr.  Conkling.  My  acquaintance  with  the  English 
language  is  not  sufficiently  intimate  to  enable  me  to 
describe  how  angry  he  was.  Mr.  Conkling  was  elect 
ed.  Then  commenced  those  twenty  years  of  service, 
in  the  House  and  Senate,  which  have  left  their  lus 
trous  mark  on  the  records  of  Congress. 

I  was  at  Mr.  Seward's,  in  Auburn.  The  conversa 
tion  ran  on  public  affairs  and  public  men.  He  re 
marked  that  it  was  a  long  time  before  he  fathomed 
one  prominent  character  in  New  York.  This  was 
Horace  Greeley.  He  said  he  had  supposed  Greeley 
was  doing  his  work  from  philanthropic  motives,  and 
had  no  desire  for  office ;  but  subsequently  he  found 
he  was  mistaken,  and  that  he  was  very  eager  to  hold 
office.  I  replied,  in  rather  a  careless  tone,  "  Senator, 
do  you  not  think  it  would  have  been  better  for  you 
if  vou  had  let  him  have  office  ?"  Mr.  Seward  looked 


200  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

at  me  intently,  rolled  out  a  cloud  of  tobacco  smoke, 
and  then  slowly  responded,  "  I  don't  know  but  it 
would."  I  was  not  aware  how  point-blank  a  shot  I 
had  fired,  for  I  did  not  then  know  of  the  existence  of 
the  letter  of  November  11. 1854,  addressed  by  Greeley 
to  Seward,  dissolving  the  old  political  firm  of  "  Sew 
ard,  "Weed,  and  Greeley,"  by  the  withdrawal  of  the 
junior  partner.  Greeley 's  opposition  to  Se ward's 
nomination  to  the  Presidency,  in  1860,  brought  this 
unique  epistle  out  of  the  secret  archives  of  Mr.  Sew 
ard.  It  is  printed  in  Greeley 's  "  Recollections  of  a 
Busy  Life,"  and  will  repay  perusal  by  students  of 
fallen  human  nature. 

Thomas  Gorwin  wras  the  prince  of  orators.  lie  was 
elected  to  Congress  in  1858.  He  had  long  before  won 
fame  throughout  the  Union.  No  party  had  an  abso 
lute  majority  in  the  House  that  witnessed  the  terri 
ble  era  that  ushered  in  the  rebellion.  The  balance  of 
power  between  the  Republicans  and  Democrats,  in 
the  House,  was  held  by  a  small  body  of  Northern 
Know-Nothings,  Southern  Know-Nothings,  and  Old- 
line  Whigs.  John  Sherman,  on  the  nomination  of 
Corwin,  became  the  Republican  candidate  for  Speak 
er.  The  contest,  commencing  in  December,  1859,  con 
tinued  for  eight  weeks.  The  ballotings  were  inter 
spersed  with  a  variety  of  speeches.  One  morning 
Corwin  arose.  The  House  and  galleries  overflowed 
with  spectators.  His  address  lasted  three  days.  His 
aim  was  to  prove  that  in  their  efforts  to  prohibit  by 
law  the  extension  of  slavery  the  Republicans  were  a 
constitutional  party.  It  was  one  of  the  most  wonder 
ful  speeches  I  ever  heard.  All  that  had  gone  before 


TOM  CORWIN  AS  AN  ORATOR.  201 

it,  and  all  that  came  after  it,  in  this  weary  contest  of 
two  months,  seemed  mere  chattering  in  comparison 
with  an  effort  that  was  replete  with  logic,  wit,  humor, 
repartee,  sarcasm,  and  pertinent  references  to  history, 
and  sketches  of  statesmen  in  early  days  who  held  the 
doctrines  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso  ;  and  all  the  while, 
amid  the  glitter  of  the  lighter  and  gayer  passages  of 
the  speech,  the  orator  was  carrying  forward  the  heavy 
chain  of  ratiocination. 

One  day  there  was  an  unusual  commotion  on  the 
floor.  The  pages  were  running  to  and  fro,  and  a  hun 
dred  quivering  pencils  were  keeping  tally  to  the  call 
of  the  clerk.  It  was  seen  that  all  the  Democrats,  and 
a  dangerously  large  share  of  the  Know-Nothings  and 
Old-line  Whigs,  were  voting  for  Mr.  Smith,  of  North 
Carolina,  a  new  candidate.  Ere  the  result  was  an 
nounced,  John  Sherman  rose.  "  Mr.  Clerk,  please  call 
my  name.  "  John  Sherman,"  said  the  clerk.  "  Thom 
as  Corwin,"  responded  Sherman.  On  counting  the 
tally  list,  it  was  found  that  the  votes  cast  for  Sher 
man  and  the  one  vote  for  Corwin  were  precisely 
equal  to  the  total  votes  given  for  Smith.  A  narrow 
escape. 

That  evening  Sherman  withdrew,  and  ex-Governor 
William  Pennington,  of  New  Jersey,  was  named  as 
the  Republican  candidate.  There  being  no  regular 
chaplain,  it  had  been  the  custom  to  invite  the  Wash 
ington  clergy  in  turn  to  officiate  in  that  capacity. 
The  next  morning  the  Jewish  rabbi  appeared  for  the 
iirst  time.  Arrayed  in  his  sacerdotal  robes,  he  lifted 
his  open  eyes  to  the  ceiling  and  prayed  that  the  God 
of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  would  break  the  deacl- 
9* 


202  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

lock  in  the  House,  and  set  the  wheels  of  Congress 
in  motion.  Winter  Davis,  who  had  steadily  voted 
against  Sherman,  was  pacing  the  hall  in  the  rear  of 
the  seats.  When  the  clerk  called  his  name,  he  an 
swered,  in  a  tone  that  thrilled  the  crowd,  "  Penning- 
ton !"  The  elegant  member  from  Baltimore  had  a 
following.  After  one  or  two  ballots  Pennington  was 
chosen,  and  the  Eepublicans  had  a  speaker.  The 
House  took  a  long  breath,  and  determined  to  have 
some  sport.  A  motion  to  adjourn  was  voted  down, 
and  so  was  another  and  another.  The  new  speaker 
gave  the  floor  to  everybody  that  asked  for  it,  till  a 
dozen  members  w^ere  talking  at  once,  amid  screams  of 
laughter.  Mr.  John  Cochrane,  a  Democrat,  crept  up 
the  marble  steps,  and  told  Mr.  Pennington  that  if  he 
would  recognize  him  he  would  move  an  adjournment, 
and  he  believed  enough  Democrats  would  vote  with 
him  to  carry  the  motion.  "  Oh,  no,  Mr.  Cochrane," 
said  the  speaker ;  let  her  run."  After  it  had  had  fun 
enough  the  House  adjourned,  wTith  the  clumsiest  pre 
siding  officer  that  ever  filled  the  chair. 

John  Slidell  introduced  into  the  Senate  a  bill  to  ap 
propriate  twenty  or  thirty  millions  of  dollars  (I  for 
get  which)  for  the  purchase  of  Cuba.  Of  course,  the 
object  was  to  strengthen  the  slave  power.  When  he 
moved  to  take  up  the  bill,  it  was  antagonized  by  a 
motion  to  take  up  the  bill  for  granting  public  lands 
free  of  cost  to  settlers,  known  as  the  Homestead  bill. 
A  debate  immediately  arose  on  the  merits  of  the  two 
measures,  which  ran  into  the  night,  and  became  in 
tensely  bitter  towards  the  close.  Robert  Toombs, 
of  Georgia,  whose  seat  was  right  beside  Benjamin  F. 


WADE    AND    TOOMBS.  zUo 

Wade's,  was  eloquently  abusive.  He  shook  his  fist  at 
Seward,  who  at  that  moment  was  standing  in  the  door 
of  a  cloak-room  calmly  puffing  a  cigar,  and  called  him 
a  little  demagogue.  He  accused  the  Republicans  of 
being  afraid  of  the  "  lacklanders  "  (as  he  styled  those 
who  might  wish  to  accept  the  privileges  of  the  home 
stead  policy),  frequently  thumping  his  desk  by  way 
of  emphasis,  and  occasionally  striking  a  blow  on 
Wade's.  As  he  took  his  seat,  half  a  dozen  senators 
sprang  to  their  feet.  Vice  -  President  Breckinridge 
could  not  but  give  the  floor  to  Wade,  for  he  leaped 
clear  from  the  carpet.  Turning  short  on  Toombs,  he 
exclaimed, "  Afraid,  are  we  ?  Afraid,  are  we  ?  I  nev 
er  saw  anything  or  any  man  under  God's  heavens 
that  I  was  afraid  of,"  at  the  same  time  smiting 
Toombs's  desk  with  his  fist,  which  came  inconvenient 
ly  close  to  the  Georgian's  nose.  Two  or  three  more 
sentences  in  this  vein  were  hurled  at  him,  accompa 
nied  by  heavy  thuds  on  the  desk.  Toombs  rolled  back 
his  chair,  and  said, "  I  except  my  friend  from  Ohio 
from  my  too  sweeping  remark."  "  Yery  well,"  re 
sumed  Wade, "  if  you  wish  to  back  out,  you  can  go." 
He  then  briefly  dissected  Slidell's  measure,  contrast 
ing  it  with  the  homestead  policy,  and  exclaimed, "  We 
accept  the  issue  tendered  to  us,  and  will  go  to  the 
people  on  it,  viz.,  land  for  the  landless  versus  niggers 
for  the  niggerless."  The  excited  auditory  burst  into 
loud  applause,  which  was  not  easily  suppressed.  Sli 
dell's  motion  was  rejected,  Mr.  Douglas  rubbing  his 
hands  in  great  glee  at  the  discomfiture  of  his  sly,  sour 
enemy. 

It  is  rare  that  we  meet  a  character  that  embodied 


204  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

so  much  rough  grandeur  as  Benjamin  Franklin  Wade's. 
He  did  not  know  what  fear  was.  Toombs  was  mere 
ly  an  eloquent  bully.  He  had  little  of  that  courage 
that  stands  fire. 

During  the  four  turbulent  years  of  Buchanan's  ad 
ministration,  Mr.  Seward  was  recognized  both  by  co 
adjutors  and  opponents  as  the  leader  of  his  party  in 
the  Senate.  Though  always  respectful  towards  an 
tagonists,  and  never  for  a  moment  losing  his  equa 
nimity  in  debate,  he  was  so  radical  in  his  opinions  on 
negro  slavery,  and  so  bold  in  their  utterance,  that  he 
drew  upon  himself  the  hostility  of  the  Southern  sen 
ators,  and  especially  such  slavery  propagandists  as 
Toombs,  Slidell,  Mason,  and  Benjamin.  The  latter 
had  formerly  been  a  Whig,  and  his  seat  was  on  the 
hereditary  Whig  side  of  the  chamber,  where  now  sat 
in  adjoining  chairs  four  leaders  who  had  supported 
General  Taylor's  administration,  namely,  Seward  and 
Benjamin,  Wade  and  Toombs,  the  latter  then  being  in 
the  House.  Among  the  ready,  pungent,  and  eloquent 
orators  in  the  Senate  stood  Judah  P.  Benjamin.  One 
day,  at  the  close  of  a  set  speech  on  the  Kansas  em- 
broglio,  he  made  an  impassioned  and  bitter  attack  on 
Seward.  As  Benjamin  resumed  his  seat,  Seward  rose, 
and,  turning  to  his  assailant,  said,  in  a  calm  and  in 
different  tone,  "  Benjamin,  give  me  a  cigar,  and  when 
your  speech  is  printed  send  me  a  copy."  Seward  then 
retired  to  the  cloak-room  and  smoked  Benjamin's 
cigar. 

Though  this  was  done  without  affectation  on  the 
part  of  Seward,  it  was  nevertheless  a  close  copy  of 
the  dramatic  scene  in  the  Senate  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 


CLAY    AND    VAN    BUEEN.  205 

tury  before,  wherein  Clay  and  Yan  Buren  were  the 
leading  actors.  It  was  in  the  height  of  the  conflict 
over  the  removal,  by  order  of  President  Jackson,  of 
the  Federal  funds  from  the  United  States  Bank  and 
its  branches,  which  had  set  the  country  all  aflame, 
particularly  in  commercial  and  financial  centres.  Mr. 
Yan  Buren,  the  Yice-President,  was  a  model  of  cour 
tesy  as  a  presiding  officer.  The  Whigs  in  the  Senate, 
led  by  their  great  chieftains,  Clay  and  Webster,  de 
manded  a  return  of  the  moneys  to  the  bank.  They 
daily  hurled  anathemas  against  Jackson,  declaring 
that  he  was  a  despot  of  the  deepest  dye,  and  that  an 
indignant  people  would  soon  rise  and  hurl  him  from 
power.  They  compared  him  to  Nero,  Charles  I.,  and 
other  tyrants  of  olden  times.  One  morning  Mr.  Clay, 
in  the  course  of  a  vehement  harangue,  implored  the 
Yice-President  to  instantly  leave  the  Senate  chamber 
and  repair  to  the  White  House,  and  on  his  bended 
knees  before  the  despot  exert  his  well-known  influ 
ence  over  him,  and  insist  upon  the  restoration  of  the 
deposits  to  the  bank  without  an  hour's  delay,  as  the 
only  means  of  averting  a  revolution  in  the  country. 
As  Clay  closed  his  eloquent  philippic,  Yan  Buren 
called  a  senator  to  the  chair  and  went  straight  across 
the  chamber  to  Clay's  seat.  The  tall  Kentuckian  rose 
and  stared  at  the  little  magician,  while  the  perturbed 
spectators  awaited  the  result  with  undisguised  anxie 
ty.  Yan  Buren  bowed  gracefully  to  Clay,  and  said, 
"  Mr.  Senator,  allow  me  to  be  indebted  to  you  for 
another  pinch  of  your  aromatic  Maccaboy."  Clay 
waved  his  hand  towards  the  gold  snuff-box  on  his 
desk,  and  took  his  seat,  while  Yan  Buren  took  a  del- 


206  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

icate  pinch  and  leisurely  returned  to  the  Vice-Presi 
dent's  chair. 

Perhaps  some  of  those  who  witnessed  the  Bank- 
Biddle  -  Clay  -  Webster  -  Jackson  -Yan  Buren  "  revolu 
tion"  of  1832-1836,  and  lived  to  see  the  convulsions 
of  1861-1865,  may  be  tempted  to  look  back  upon  the 
financial  turmoils  of  the  earlier  epoch  with  feelings 
akin  to  contempt.  But  history  would  be  incomplete 
unless  it  took  note  of  many  little  things  that  derive 
all  their  importance  from  the  magnitude  of  the  men 
who  bore  a  part  in  them. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

Turbulent  Scenes  in  the  House  in  1859,  I860. —Grow  Knocks 
Keitt  Down.— Crawford  Threatens  Thad.  Stevens.— Tribute  to 
Stevens.  —  Stephen  A.Douglas;  his  Ik-election  to  the  Senate 
over  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1859. — His  Reception  in  the  Senate. — 
Pro-Slavery  Democrats  Assail  him. — Seward  Preparing  for  the 
Chicago  Convention  of  1860. — Deluded  as  to  his  Strength.— The 
Senators  Opposed  to  him. — Corwin  and  Lincoln  Speak  in  New 
England  Early  in  1860. — New-Yorkers  who  Oppose  Seward  at 
Chicago. — Lincoln  Nominated.  —  Scene  at  Auburn  when  the 
News  Came. — Seward  Embittered. — Crushed  Presidential  Aspi 
rations  of  Seward,  Greeley,  Clay,  and  Webster.  —  Ira  Harris 
Chosen  Senator  in  1861. — Defeat  of  Greeley  and  Evarts. — Rufus 
King's  Chair  in  the  Senate. — Its  Distinguished  Occupants. 

DURING  Buchanan's  administration  scenes  often  oc 
curred  in  the  House  more  dramatic  and  perilous  than 
any  in  the  Senate.  I  was  present  when  Galusha  A. 
Grow,  of  Pennsylvania,  knocked  down  Lawrence  M. 
Keitt,  of  South  Carolina,  under  circumstances  that 
came  near  to  involving  the  members,  and  perhaps  the 
galleries,  in  bloodshed.  It  was  due  to  the  caution 
and  firmness  of  Speaker  Orr  that  the  catastrophe  was 
averted.  At  a  later  day  Owen  Lovejoy,  of  Illinois,  a 
brother  of  the  Alton  martyr,  while  delivering  a  speech, 
unconsciously  advanced  step  by  step  across  the  area 
in  front  of  the  clerk's  desk.  A  Southern  member  laid 
his  hand  on  Love  joy's  shoulder,  saying,  "  Go  back  to 
your  own  side."  Instantly  the  area  was  full  of  mem 
bers,  the  most  of  whom  were  armed.  The  ominous 


208  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

"  click  "  of  weapons  was  heard.  Elihu  B.  Washburne, 
of  Illinois,  clutched  at  the  supposed  hair  of  William 
Barksdale,  of  Mississippi,  and  pulled  off  his  wig.  High 
above  the  din  rose  the  voice  of  William  Kellogg,  of 
Illinois,  shouting,  "My  colleague  shall  be  heard!" 
The  crowd  swayed  to  and  fro,  the  mace  of  the  little 
sergeant-at-arms  dancing  about  on  the  surface  till  it 
was  thrown  clear  out  of  the  vortex,  recalling  the 
scene  in  Westminster  Hall,  when  Cromwell,  who  had 
entered  to  expel  the  Rump  Parliament,  was  confront 
ed  with  the  mace,  and  cried,  "  Take  away  that  bau 
ble  !"  The  frightened  Speaker  rapped,  rapped,  rapped, 
shouted  "  Order,  order,  order !"  and  the  storm  finally 
subsided. 

Thaddeus  Stevens,  clearly  within  parliamentary 
rules,  was  addressing  the  House  on  another  occasion 
in  his  usual  pungent  style,  when  Martin  J.  Crawford, 
of  Georgia,  followed  by  a  dozen  other  Secessionists, 
rushed  towards  him,  some  of  them  threatening  to  as 
sassinate  him  on  the  spot  unless  he  retracted  his  words. 
The  brave  old  commoner  maintained  his  ground,  and 
stood  by  his  words.  He  was  then  in  his  sixty-ninth 
year,  and  a  cripple.  Crawford  was  forty,  and  tall, 
wiry,  and  athletic.  The  assault  plunged  the  House 
into  a  vortex  of  excitement.  The  deliberation  and 
dignity  of  Stevens  cowed  Crawford  and  his  caitiffs, 
who,  one  after  another,  slunk  into  their  seats,  while 
the  great  debater  resumed  his  speech.  The  steadiness 
of  nerve  exhibited  by  Mr.  Stevens  probably  saved  the 
House  from  a  bloody  affray.  The  subsequent  career 
of  Crawford  illustrates  his  colossal  impudence.  Dur 
ing  the  civil  war  he  was  a  member  of  the  rebel  con- 


THADDEUS    STEVENS. STEPHEN    A.    DOUGLAS.        209 

gi*ess,  and  was  sent  by  that  assembly  to  Washington 
as  one  of  a  so-called  commission  or  embassy  to  nego 
tiate  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the  Confederacy  and 
the  United  States,  on  the  basis  that  the  Union  was 
already  dissolved.  Could  effrontery  further  go !  These 
tumults  were  the  skirmishes  that  preceded  Bull  Run, 
Antietam,  Gettysburg,  and  Appomattox  Court  House. 
Keitt  was  killed  in  battle  in  front  of  Washington,  and 
Barksdale  fell  in  the  last  terrible  charge  of  Lee  against 
Cemetery  Eiclge,  at  Gettysburg,  but  Crawford  pre 
ferred  to  practise  law. 

An  emancipated  race,  through  the  long  years  to 
come,  will  cast  wreaths  on  the  grave  of  Thaddeus  Ste 
vens.  Born  to  a  low  condition,  he  struggled  with  adver 
sity  till  he  reached  eminence  in  law,  politics,  and  states 
manship.  During  the  administrations  of  Lincoln  and 
Johnson  he  was  the  leader  of  the  Republican  party 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  its  most  acute  and 
fearless  debater,  occupying  extreme  radical  ground  on 
the  subjects  of  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  their 
enlistment  in  the  army  in  the  war  period,  and  their 
admission  to  the  ballot-boxes  in  the  reconstruction 
era  ;  while  on  the  other  hand  he  advocated  the  politi 
cal  disfranchisement  and  the  confiscation  of  the  prop 
erty  of  all  those  who  had  actively  participated  in  the 
rebellion. 

Rising  from  obscurity  and  poverty,  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  without  adventitious  aids,  advanced  by  sheer 
force  of  will  and  perseverance  to  eminent  leadership 
in  the  Democratic  party.  He  had  little  learning,  but 
was  endowed  with  rare  oratorical  gifts,  while  his 
buoyant  spirits  made  him  popular  with  the  multitude. 


210  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

He  was  a  native-born  tribune  of  the  people.  A  little 
story  will  illustrate  his  jovial  manner.  Beverly  Tuck 
er  was  sitting  on  his  knee,  with  Douglas's  arm  around 
him.  "  Bev.,"  said  he,  "  when  I  get  to  be  President 
what  shall  I  do  for  you  ?"  "  Doug.,"  replied  Tucker, 
"  when  you  get  to  be  President  all  I  shall  ask  of  you 
is  to  take  me  on  your  knee,  put  your  arm  around  me, 
and  call  me  '  Bev.' ': 

In  his  contest  for  Senator  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  1858, 
he  was  successful,  but  did  not  come  to  Washington  in 
the  following  winter  until  after  his  re-election  to  the 
Senate  by  the  legislature.  In  his  conflict  with  the 
"  Tall  Sucker,"  of  Springfield,  the  "  Little  Giant,"  of 
Chicago,  had  been  driven  to  the  utterance  of  opinions 
on  the  Free-soil  question  which  were  repugnant  to 
the  creed  of  such  slavery  propagandists  in  the  Senate 
as  Davis,  Mason,  Toombs,  and  Slidell.  His  reception 
in  the  Senate,  on  his  first  appearance,  was  a  spectacle 
to  be  enjoyed.  As  he  entered  a  select  crowd  in  the 
galleries  applauded.  Mason,  Slidell,  and  their  bitter 
clique  scowled  and  did  not  recognize  him.  When  a 
distinguished  senator  approached  he  rose  from  his  seat 
and  received  the  greeting  with  marked  cordiality.  The 
lesser  lights  were  content  with  a  hearty  shake  of  the 
hand,  he  maintaining  a  sitting  posture.  Jefferson  Da 
vis  came  to  his  chair.  Douglas  rose,  and  they  bowed 
and  bowed,  but  seemed  to  say  very  little.  After  some 
of  the  minor  Republicans  had  paid  their  respects  to  the 
lion  of  the  hour,  Mr.  Seward  crossed  the  aisle ;  Doug 
las  rose,  they  bowed,  and  he  then  gave  the  leader  of 
the  opposition  a  seat  by  his  side.  Since  the  last  ses 
sion  the  Senate  had  removed  into  its  new  chamber, 


SENATOR    STUART    DEFENDS    DOUGLAS.  211 

where  Douglas  had  never  sat.  Lest  he  and  Seward 
should  be  suspected  of  conversing  about  the  Illinois 
contest  (which  was  delicate  ground  for  Mr.  Seward 
to  tread),  the  latter,  with  spectacles  in  hand  and  arm 
extended,  was  pointing  out  the  architectural  beauties 
of  the  new  hall,  Mr.  Douglas  following  the  spectacles 
with  his  eye,  and  twisting  around  in  his  chair  to  keep 
pace  with  their  meanderings. 

For  many  days  Douglas  was  quiet,  content  with  his 
victory  at  home.  The  Slavery  propagandists  deter 
mined  to  drive  him  out  of  the  party.  A  string  of 
resolutions  condemnatory  of  his  Illinois  opinions  was 
introduced  into  the  Senate.  The  debate  lasted  far 
into  the  night.  The  Republicans  generally  stood 
aloof.  The  attacks  upon  Douglas  were  rare  speci 
mens  of  scathing  oratory,  Mason  and  Slidell  being 
particularly  offensive.  Douglas  and  his  few  Demo 
cratic  coadjutors  bore  up  gallantly  against  their  as 
sailants.  Charles  E.  Stuart,  of  Michigan,  a  Demo 
cratic  Senator,  was  a  strong,  rough  debater.  In  the 
evening  he  converted  the  Senate  Chamber  into  a 
threshing-floor  and  his  tongue  into  a  flail.  He  told 
the  propagandists  that  instead  of  receiving  the  distin 
guished  Senator  from  Illinois  as  a  victor,  they  had 
treated  him  as  if  he  were  a  pickpocket.  He  pointed 
to  the  many  seats,  one  by  one,  now  occupied  by  Ee- 
publicans,  which  he  had  formerly  seen  filled  by  Dem 
ocrats.  "  And  this,"  he  exclaimed,  in  stentorian  tones, 
and  shaking  his  fist  at  the  antagonists  of  Douglas, 
"  is  due  to  your  detestable  doctrines."  They  quailed 
under  the  flagellation  of  Stuart.  It  gave  them  a  fore 
taste  of  the  civil  war.  The  success  of  the  North  in  the 


212  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

War  of  the  Rebellion  was,  strange  to  say,  in  part  due 
to  the  author  of  the  bill  that  repealed  the  Missouri 
Compromise.  I  refer  to  the  patriotic  letter  Douglas 
addressed  to  his  Democratic  friends,  which  was  ap 
pended  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  call  for  seventy-five  thousand 
volunteers,  in  April,  1801.  It  produced  an  impression 
through  the  country  almost  as  profound  as  the  Presi 
dent's  proclamation.  It  extinguished  the  hope  of  the 
South  that  they  were  to  receive  open  aid  from  the 
Northern  Democracy  in  the  attempt  to  destroy  the 
Union.  Indeed,  the  accession  to  the  patriotic  side  of 
the  struggle  at  a  critical  juncture  of  six  such  distin 
guished  Democrats  as  General  Cass,  Mr.  Dickinson, 
Robert  J.  Walker,  Jeremiah  Black,  General  Dix,  and 
Mr.  Douglas,  went  far  to  inspire  confidence  in  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  the  constitutional  party. 

It  so  happened  that  Mr.  Douglas  and  I  left  Wash 
ington  in  the  same  railway  train  in  the  perilous  days 
of  April,  1861.  We  occupied  adjoining  seats  till  we 
reached  the  Relay  House,  where  he  turned  his  face 
towards  his  Western  home.  He  told  me  he  should 
spend  the  spring  and  summer  in  rallying  the  people 
of  Illinois  to  the  support  of  Lincoln  and  the  Union. 
Alas !  on  the  third  of  the  following  June  his  sun  set 
to  rise  no  more  on  earth. 

In  1860  Mr.  Seward  made  a  speech  in  the  Senate 
which  he  thought  would  remove  all  obstacles  to  his 
nomination  to  the  Presidency  at  Chicago.  He  read 
it  to  me  before  it  was  delivered,  and  requested  me  to 
write  a  description  for  the  New  York  Tribune  of  the 
scene  in  the  chamber  during  the  delivery,  which  I 
did.  The  description  was  elaborate,  the  Senator  him- 


SEWARD    AND    CORWIN.  213 

self  suggesting  some  of  the  nicer  touches,  and  every 
line  of  it  was  written  and  on  its  way  to  New  York 
before  Mr.  Seward  had  uttered  a  word  in  the  Senate 
Chamber.  Soon  a  large  edition  of  the  speech  and  the 
description  came  to  Washington.  As  he  handed  me 
some  copies  he  said,  in  his  liveliest  manner,  "  Here 
we  go  down  to  posterity  together."  He  was  in  buoy 
ant  spirits,  seeming  not  to  doubt  that  his  nomination 
was  assured.  He  would  have  felt  otherwise  if  he 
had  known  that  at  that  critical  moment  scarcely  a 
half  dozen  Eepublican  Senators  were  heartily  in  favor 
of  his  candidacy.  It  is  my  own  personal  knowledge 
that  enables  me  to  state  that  Fessenden,  Hamlin, 
Hale,  Simmons,  Foster,  Dixon,  Cameron,  Wade,  Trum- 
bull,  and  Doolittle  w^ere  among  his  opponents. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1800  state  contests  wrere 
pending  in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  whose  re 
sults  might  exert  a  wide  influence  in  the  next  Presi 
dential  campaign.  I  spoke  in  Connecticut  and  seve 
ral  times  in  Rhode  Island.  In  the  latter  state  a  fierce 
struggle  wras  raging  for  the  governorship  between  two 
rich  candidates — William  Sprague,  Democrat,  and 
Seth  Paddleford,  Republican.  Each  was  flooding  that 
little  rotten  borough  with  money.  The  Republicans 
urged  me  to  get  Mr.  Corwin  to  come  from  Washington 
and  help  them.  I  told  them  he  was  poor,  and  could 
not  afford  to  waste  money  in  stump  speaking.  I  de 
manded  a  carte  llancke  as  to  the  terms  I  was  to  sub 
mit  to  the  peerless  orator.  They  gave  it.  I  saw  him. 
In  his  half -serious,  half -comic  style  he  pronounced  me 
a  philosopher,  and  started  eastward ;  and  on  his  re 
turn  he  remarked  in  the  same  vein  that  the  Yankees 


214  EANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

we're  the  most  magnificent  and  munificent  people  on 
the  face  of  the  globe.  A  recital  of  the  details  of  my 
financial  negotiations  in  behalf  of  the  high  contract 
ing  parties  might  be  amusing. 

When  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  1848,  I 
saw  a  tall,  lank,  sallow-hued  member  bending  over 
the  chair  of  another  member,  scarcely  larger  than 
one  of  the  pages,  whose  dried  skin  looked  like  parch 
ment.  On  inquiry  I  learned  that  they  were  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  Alexander  II.  Stephens,  both  Whigs. 

In  the  spring  of  1860  Mr.  Lincoln  came  eastward. 
He  delivered  a  Avonderful  speech  in  Cooper  Institute, 
and  wrent  to  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  where 
he  addressed  tumultuous  assemblies  in  the  principal 
cities.  His  debate  with  Douglas,  his  speech  in  New 
York,  and  his  trip  to  New  England,  gave  him  the 
nomination  to  the  Presidency. 

Mr.  Seward  seemed  to  be  certain  of  receiving  the 
Presidential  nomination  at  Chicago.  He  felt  that  it 
belonged  to  him.  His  flatterers  had  encouraged  him 
in  the  error  that  he  was  the  sole  creator  of  the  Re 
publican  party,  both  he  and  they  forgetting  that  it 
was  the  grandchild  of  the  Liberty  party,  which  was 
the  legitimate  offspring  of  the  Missouri  controversy. 

At  Chicago,  Seward  encountered  the  opposition 
from  his  own  state  of  such  powerful  leaders  as  Gree- 
ley,  Dudley  Field,  Bryant,  and  Wads  worth.  The 
first  two  were  on  the  ground  and  very  busy.  The 
two  latter  sent  pungent  letters  that  were  circulated 
among  the  delegates  from  various  states.  The  main 
point  of  the  attack  was  that  Seward  could  not  carry 
New  York,  Soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the  con- 


SEWARD   AND    THE    CHICAGO    CONVENTION.  215 

vention,  William  Curtis  Noyes,  who  was  a  delegate, 
told  me  (and  there  could  not  have  been  higher  au 
thority  for  the  statement  than  this  learned  lawyer) 
that  a  careful  canvass  of  the  Xew  York  delegation 
showed  that  nearly  one  fourth  of  its  members  be 
lieved  it  was  extremely  doubtful  if  Seward  could  ob 
tain  a  majority  at  the  polls  in  that  state.  This  doubt 
was  an  element  of  great  weakness  in  Se ward's  can 
vass  at  Chicago.  The  Barnburners  in  the  Eepublican 
party  were  generally  against  him.  Perhaps  the  main 
stumbling-block  over  which  he  fell  in  the  convention 
was  Thurlow  Weed.  As  events  finally  culminated, 
it  was  clear  that  Seward  could  have  carried  New 
York,  for  the  Southern  conspirators  against  the  Union 
were  determined  that  the  Eepublican  candidate,  who 
ever  he  was,  should  be  elected. 

Mr.  Seward  was  popular  among  his  neighbors.  On 
the  day  when  the  convention  was  to  ballot  for  a  can 
didate,  Cayuga  county  poured  itself  into  Auburn. 
The  streets  were  full,  and  Mr.  Seward's  house  and 
grounds  overflowed  with  his  admirers.  The  trees 
waved  their  branches  on  the  lawn  as  if  betokening 
coming  victory.  Flags  were  ready  to  be  raised,  and 
a  loaded  cannon  was  placed  at  the  gate,  whose  pillars 
bore  up  two  guardian  lions.  Arrangements  had  been 
perfected  for  the  receipt  of  intelligence  with  unwont 
ed  speed  from  the  scene  where  the  battle  was  pro 
ceeding.  At  Mr.  Seward's  right  hand,  just  within  the 
porch,  stood  his  trusty  henchman,  Christopher  Mor 
gan.  The  rider  of  a  galloping  steed  dashed  through 
the  crowd  with  a  telegram,  and  handed  it  to  Seward. 
He  read  it  and  passed  it  to  Morgan.  For  Seward, 


216  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

i  73J- ;  for  Lincoln,  103 ;  and  for  other  aspirants,  189J. 
Morgan  repeated  it  to  the  multitude,  who  cheered  ve 
hemently.  Then  came  the  tidings  of  the  second  bal 
lot  :  For  Seward,  184-J  ;  for  Lincoln,  181 ;  and  for 
others,  99 £.  "  I  shall  be  nominated  on  the  next  bal 
lot,"  said  Seward,  and  the  throng  in  the  house  ap 
plauded,  and  those  on  the  laAvn  and  in  the  street  ech 
oed  the  cheers.  The  next  messenger  from  the  tele 
graph  office  lashed  his  horse  into  a  run.  The  telegram 
read,  "  Lincoln  nominated.  T.  W."  Seward  turned 
as  pale  as  ashes.  The  sad  tidings  crept  through 
the  vast  concourse.  The  flags  were  furled,  the  can 
non  was  rolled  away,  and  Cayuga  county  went  home 
with  a  clouded  brow.  Mr.  Seward  retired  to  rest  at 
a  late  hour,  and  the  night  breeze  in  the  tall  trees 
sighed  a  requiem  over  the  blighted  hopes  of  New 
York's  eminent  son. 

Mr.  Seward  felt  his  defeat  at  Chicago  beyond  all 
power  of  expression,  and  he  never  forgave  those  who 
had  actively  contributed  to  produce  it.  In  incensed 
moments  he  accused  some  men  wrongfully,  as  he  sub 
sequently  admitted.  He  wras  a  good  hater,  and  lay 
in  wait  to  punish  his  foes.  He  doubtless  defeated 
General  "Wads worth  for  Governor  of  New  York  in 
1862.  Wadsworth  was  then  military  commander  at 
Washington,  and  Sewrard  was  Secretary  of  State. 
"Wadsworth  told  me  that  Seward  wras  "  dead  against 
him  "  all  through  the  campaign.  He  rather  surprised 
me  by  saying  that  Weed  wanted  him  elected.  Per 
haps  this  was  due  to  the  fact  that  thirty-five  years 
before  Weed  and  the  father  of  General  Wadsworth 
had  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  Anti-Masonic 


SEWAKD    AND    GREELEY.  217 

party  in  western  New  York.  I  could  relate  many 
marked  instances  within  my  own  knowledge  where 
Seward's  lightning  strokes  fell  on  New  York  Repub 
licans  who  had  opposed  his  nomination  in  1860.  If 
bitter  exclamations,  welling  up  from  the  heart,  can 
prove  anything,  they  demonstrated  the  depth  and  in 
tensity  of  his  mortification  and  anger.  More  than  to 
any  other  one  man  he  attributed  his  failure  to  reach 
the  goal  of  his  ambition  to  Horace  Greeley.  For 
twenty  years  they  were  coadjutors  in  politics,  but  in 
1854  they  became  estranged,  and  never  after  were 
in  close  accord.  They  descended  to  their  graves  in 
the  same  autumn,  Seward  in  October  and  Greeley  in 
November,  1872.  Crushed  Presidential  aspirations 
paved  the  path  of  each  to  the  tomb.  It  was  just 
twenty  years  since  Clay  and  "Webster  had  gone  to  the 
spirit  land  by  the  same  dark  and  dreary  road. 

Mr.  Se ward's  successor  was  to  be  elected  to  the 
Senate  in  1801,  he  being  about  to  enter  Lincoln's 
Cabinet.  Mr.  Seward's  and  Mr.  Weed's  candidate 
was  William  M.  Evarts.  His  principal  antagonist 
was  Horace  Greeley,  but  Ira  Harris,  whom  Weed 
hated  a  little  less  than  he  did  Greeley,  held  about 
twenty  votes  as  a  balance  of  power.  There  were  a 
dozen  or  more  votes  floating  around  loose.  The  Re 
publican  nomination  was  equivalent  to  an  election. 
The  prize  was  exceptionally  valuable,  for  the  Senator 
would  exert  great  influence  in  the  distribution  of  pat 
ronage  and  otherwise  under  the  new  administration. 
Evarts  and  Harris  were  on  the  ground  weeks  previ 
ous  to  the  day  of  trial,  and  Albany  was  full  of  sup 
porters  of  the  rival  aspirants.  Greeley  was  at  the 
10 


218  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

West  lecturing.  Governor  Morgan  favored  Evarts, 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  caucus  gave  Weed  the  pos 
session  of  the  Executive  Chamber  for  the  Evarts  head 
quarters.  De  Witt  C.  Littlejohn,  tall  and  lithe,  was 
Weed's  lieutenant.  Greeley  and  Evarts  ran  about 
neck  and  neck.  Harris  held  the  balance.  There  were 
a  dozen  or  fifteen  floaters.  For  three  ballots  the  re 
sult  hardly  changed.  Suddenly  Greeley  shot  ahead 
of  Evarts,  and  it  looked  as  if  he  would  win  on  the 
next  ballot.  Pale  as  ashes,  Weed  sat  smoking  a  cigar 
within  earshot  of  the  bustle  in  the  crowded  Assembly 
room,  where  the  caucus  sat.  Littlejohn  stalked  over 
the  heads  of  the  spectators,  and  reported  to  Weed. 
Unmindful  of  the  fact  that  he  had  a  cigar  in  his 
mouth,  Weed  lighted  another  and  put  it  in,  then  rose 
in  great  excitement,  and  said  to  Littlejohn,  "  Tell  the 
Evarts  men  to  go  right  over  to  Harris — to  Harris — 
to  HARRIS!"  The  order  was  given  in  the  caucus. 
They  wheeled  into  line  like  Napoleon's  Old  Guard, 
and  Harris  was  nominated.  Cannon  reverberated  on 
Capitol  hill.  They  were  not  fired  by  the  Weed-Ev- 
arts  faction. 

Mr.  Seward  occupied  the  seat  in  the  Senate  which, 
under  the  constitutional  mode  of  arrangement,  is  in 
class  number  three.  From  the  foundation  of  the  gov 
ernment  it  had  been  filled  by  many  statesmen  of 
shining  talents,  among  whom  were  Rufus  King,  De 
Witt  Clinton,  John  Armstrong,  Nathan  Sanford,  Will 
iam  L.  Marcy,  Silas  Wright  >  and  John  A.  Dix.  Its 
prestige  had  not  been  tarnished  by  Mr.  Seward. 
Though  defeated  in  his  attempt  to  reach  this  elevated 
position  in  1861,  Mr.  Evarts  achieved  it  twenty-four 


SEWARD    AND    EVARTS.  219 

years  later,  but  through  auspices  quite  different  from 
those  that  seconded  his  effort  in  the  earlier  struggle. 
In  the  intervening  period  the  country  had  borne  up 
under  colossal  events  that  might  suffice  to  make  a 
century  bend.  Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Weed,  and  Mr.  Mor 
gan  had  gone  to  the  tomb^  and  Mr.  Evarts,  in  his  old 
age,  was  lifted  into  the  chair  that  Roscoe  Conkling 
had  voluntarily  vacated,  by  politicians  who  had  prob 
ably  never  heard  of  Rufus  King,  and  knew  little  of 
"William  II.  Seward. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Lincoln's  Cabinet. — Chase  Pushed  in. — David  Davis,  Confidential 
Adviser  of  Lincoln. — Mrs.  Lincoln  "Sub-President." — Notices 
of  Seward,  Chase,  Cameron,  Bates,  Blair,  and  Welles.  —  Bick 
erings  in  the  Cabinet.  —  Chase  and  Seward  Grapple.  —  Bray 
Dickinson  and  Marcus  Curtius. — Down  in  Dixie  in  April,  18G1. 
— Narrow  Escape  from  Secessionists. — General  Butler  and  his 
Troops.— Colonel  Jones  and  his  Regiment  Going  through  Balti 
more. — First  Blood  of  the  War.— Notice  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
the  War  Secretary. 

AFTER  it  was  known  that  Mr.  Seward  was  to  be 
Secretary  of  State  great  efforts  were  made  by  Yice- 
President  Hamlin,  Mr.  Greeley,  Mr.  Dana,  Mr.  Wads- 
worth,  the  elder  Blair,  ex*-Senator  Carroll,  and  others 
of  that  type,  to  get  Mr.  Chase  into  the  Treasury  De 
partment,  as  an  offset  to  Mr.  Seward.  The  President 
and  Chase  were  on  the  same  floor  at  Willard's  Hotel. 
Mr.  Chase  had  just  been  cho3en  a  Senator  in  Congress. 
In  ignorance  of  the  President's  intentions,  he  repaired 
to  the  Capitol,  and  was  sworn  as  Senator,  when  the 
message  appointing  him  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
was  opened  in  his  presence.  The  case  of  Gideon 
Welles  was  not  quite  so  singular.  When  Mr.  Lin 
coln  was  stumping  Connecticut,  in  the  spring  of  1860, 
Welles  accompanied  him  through  the  state.  At  Wash 
ington  he  told  me  he  was  to  go  into  the  Cabinet ;  and 
when  asked  what  portfolio  he  was  to  take,  said  he 
was  not  sure,  but  supposed  he  would  be  Postmaster- 
general. 


LINCOLN'S  CABINET.  221 

I  could  put  on  paper  many  more  things  which  I 
personally  know  about  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet  than  I 
shall.  I  am  constrained  to  omit  some  of  the  raciest. 
David  Davis,  then  in  his  prime,  came  to  Washington 
in  the  trail  of  the  new  President.  In  his  vigorous 
style  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  construction  of 
the  Cabinet.  He  stood  closer  to  Mr.  Lincoln  than 
was  then  generally  supposed.  In  the  controversies 
that  already  appeared,  and  which  subsequently  ri 
pened  into  bitterness,  Judge  Davis  was  understood  to 
lean  towards  Mr.  Seward.  Who  that  witnessed  the 
scene  can  forget  how,  in  the  gusty  two  weeks  that 
foreboded  the  storm,  Davis  stamped  back  and  forth 
among  the  male  and  female  politicians  that  crowded 
the  corridors  at  Willard's,  doing  great  and  small  er 
rands  for  large  and  little  people,  with  hat  cocked 
awry  on  his  head,  in  the  free-and-easy  fashion  of  the 
boundless  West.  Mrs.  Lincoln,  who  arrived  at  Wash 
ington  with  the  idea  that  she  was  a  sort  of  sub-Pres 
ident,  was  suspected  of  communicating  her  wishes 
in  respect  to  the  composition  of  the  Cabinet  to  the 
much-bored  and  badgered  friend  of  her  husband.  She, 
too,  was  understood  to  be  on  the  Seward- Weed  side 
of  the  pending  contest,  and  opposed  to  the  Chase- 
Greeley  clique.  Current  gossip  reported  that,  when 
a  protest  went  up  to  the  President  against  this  inter 
meddling  of  the  mistress  of  the  robes,  he  replied,  in 
characteristic  phrase,  "  Tell  the  gentlemen  not  to  be 
alarmed,  for  I  myself  manage  all  important  matters. 
In  little  things  I  have  got  along  through  life  by  let 
ting  my  wife  run  her  end  of  the  machine  pretty  much 
in  her  own  wav." 


222  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Perhaps  Mr.  Lincoln  was  wise  in  selecting  his  Cab 
inet  mainly  from  rivals  whom  he  had  overthrown  or 
absorbed  at  the  Chicago  Convention.  The  former 
lists  included  Seward,  Chase,  Cameron,  and  Bates, 
while  Blair,  Smith,  and  Welles  represented  factions 
that  had  been  at  the  best  his  cool  friends  in  that  try 
ing  emergency.  I  had  often  spoken  from  the  plat 
form  with  such  members  of  the  new  Cabinet  as  were 
accustomed  to  address  public  meetings,  and  knew  the 
others  well  except  Mr.  Bates,  a  quiet,  retired  gentle 
man,  who  would  not  have  been  dreamed  of  for  Attor 
ney-General  had  not  Mr.  Greeley  been  supporting 
him  as  a  make-shift  candidate  for  the  Presidential 
nomination.  Nothing  but  the  pressure  of  the  civil 
war  and  the  patience  of  Mr.  Lincoln  kept  these  in 
congruous  materials  together  for  six  months.  Nor 
was  the  harmony  of  the  Cabinet  improved  when  Ed 
win  M.  Stanton,  nine  months  after  its  creation,  took 
the  place  of  Simon  Cameron  as  Secretary  of  War.  I 
do  not  rely  on  rumors  or  inferences  or  information 
from  the  newspapers  or  other  outside  sources  when  I 
say  that  Chase  was  stubborn,  jealous,  and  always  in 
triguing  against  some  of  his  associates,  especially 
Seward.  Blair,  too,  was  given  to  plotting  and  con 
tention,  and  what  he  lacked  in  capacity  to  cope  with 
his  colleagues  was  supplied  by  the  cool  sagacity  of  his 
long-headed  father  and  the  hot  temper  of  his  cour 
ageous  brother,  Frank,  junior.  Amid  these  warring 
elements  Seward  usually  appeared  self -poised,  con 
scious  of  his  power,  and  satisfied  with  his  superior 
influence  at  the  White  House.  He  parted  with  his 
temper  now  and  then,  when  friends  pressed  him  to 


SEWAKD    AND    CHASE.  223 

perform  impossibilities,  as,  for  example,  on  the  occa 
sion  of  a  visit  from  leading  New  York  Republicans  of 
liis  type,  who  complained  that  their  followers  were 
not  receiving  a  due  share  of  Federal  patronage.  It 
was  reported  and  believed  that  he  broke  into  a  rage, 
exclaiming,  in  substance,  "  Why  come  to  me  about 
this  ?  Go  to  the  White  House !  I,  who  by  every 
right  ought  to  have  been  chosen  President !  what  am 
I  now  ?  nothing  but  Abe  Lincoln's  little  -  -  clerk." 
Mr.  Welles,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  usually  steered 
clear  of  these  feuds,  and  minded  his  own  business. 
Mr.  Stanton  was  sometimes  drawn  into  them.  I  shall 
speak  more  particularly  of  the  great  War  Secretary  in 
another  place. 

Notorious  was  the  superiority  of  Seward  over 
Chase  in  the  handling  of  Federal  patronage,  and  the 
consequent  mortification  of  Chase.  I  will  give  one 
illustration  of  this,  out  of  many  that  fell  under  my 
notice.  I  must  first  tell  of  whom  I  am  speaking.  In 
the  winter  of  18il,  I  was  an  onlooker  at  a  debate,  in 
the  Senate  at  Albany,  on  the  causes  of  Mr.  Yan  Bu- 
ren's  defeat  in  1S40.  John  Hunter,  a  Democrat,  of 
Westchester,  a  refined  gentleman  and  a  classical  schol 
ar,  declared  that  Yan  Buren's  courage  in  placing  him 
self  in  the  chasm  between  a  corrupt  bank  and  a  pa 
triotic  people  had  its  fitting  historic  parallel  in  the 
Roman  Forum  when  Marcus  Curtius  leaped  into  the 
abyss  to  save  the  republic.  Andrew  B.  Dickinson, 
familiarly  called  Bray  Dickinson,  a  Whig,  of  Steuben, 
illiterate  and  rough-hewn,  but  a  strong  debater,  who 
doubtless  never  till  then  had  heard  of  Marcus  Curtius, 
replied  to  Hunter.  When  he  came  to  the  classical 


224:  EANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

portion  of  the  speech,  he  said  that  the  difference  be 
tween  that  Koman  "  feller,"  Curtis,  and  Yan  Buren 
was,  that  Curtis  jumped  into  the  gap  of  his  own  ac 
cord,  but  the  people  throw" d  Yan  Buren  in. 

When  Mr.  Lincoln  became  President,  Mr.  Dickinson 
and  Edward  I.  Chase,  the  brother  of  Secretary  Chase, 
were  rival  aspirants  for  the  office  of  Marshal  of 
Northern  New  York.  Secretary  Chase  took  deep  in 
terest  in  his  brother's  success.  He  procured  for  him 
the  recommendation  of  Attorney-general  Bates,  and 
as  this  office  lay  within  his  department,  it  was  sup 
posed  that  this  ended  the  controversy.  Dickinson 
had  long  been  a  devoted  follower  of  Mr.  Seward,  and 
the  Secretary  of  State  now"  put  forth  every  exertion 
for  his  old  friend.  It  was  a  stand  up  fight  between 
the  two  secretaries.  Seward  prevailed,  and  the  bad 
gered  President  appointed  Dickinson.  When  the  news 
came  to  Chase,  it  was  a  scene  for  a  painter.  His  eye 
brows  twitched  more  nervously  than  usual,  and  his 
breath  was  short  and  hot  as  he  spitefully  said, "  What 
a  place  you  New  York  men  have  got  me  into  !"  Hav 
ing  won  the  day,  Dickinson  said  that  Seward  advised 
him  to  take  his  commission  (if  it  may  be  so  called)  to 
Secretary  Chase,  and  tell  him  he  felt  sorry  for  him 
and  his  brother,  and  that,  as  Mr.  Seward  had  offered 
him  (Dickinson)  his  pick  of  the  foreign  missions,  he 
would  decline  the  marshalship  in  his  brother's  favor. 
Dickinson  did  this ;  and  this  in  substance,  and  much 
more  of  the  same  kind,  Dickinson  detailed  before  a 
large  circle  in  the  public  hall  of  a  Washington  hotel, 
seeming  to  take  special  pleasure  in  telling  how  badly 
Secretary  Chase  felt,  and  how  he  pitied  him,  and  IIOAV 


THE    MOB    AT    BALTIMORE.  225 

glad  Chase  was  to  get  the  appointment  for  his  broth 
er  on  these  terms,  and. that  Mr.  Seward  had  gener 
ously  opened  his  book  to  him,  and  he  had  selected 
the  mission  to  Nicaragua. 

Several  contests  occurred  between  the  two  secreta 
ries  over  places  more  important  than  this  marshal- 
ship,  and  their  oppugnation  rose  far  above  offices,  and 
reached  measures  and  policies,  till  they  gave  Mr.  Lin 
coln  as  much  trouble  in  his  Cabinet  as  General  Wash 
ington  had  with  Jefferson  and  Hamilton.  The  sharp 
criticisms  I  heard  from  Mr.  Chase  on  some  of  his  col 
leagues,  and  even  on  the  President,  would  be  inter 
esting  reading.  Probably  Mr.  Lincoln  was  glad  to 
place  him  at  the  head  of  the  Supreme  Bench,  where, 
doubtless,  Mr.  Chase  was  glad  to  go. 

As  already  stated,  I  left  Washington  for  New  York 
in  April,  1861.  I  had  witnessed  the  arrival  at  the 
Capitol  of  the  first  volunteer  troops  that  came  to  its 
rescue  on  the  19th  of  the  month.  It  was  that  brave 
Massachusetts  regiment  commanded  by  Colonel  Ed 
ward  F.  Jones  (now  Lieutenant  -  Governor  of  New 
York),  some  of  whose  members  had  been  slain  while 
passing  through  Baltimore,  and  all  of  whom,  doubt 
less,  remembered  that  it  was  the  anniversary  of  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  fought  eighty-six  years  before. 
I  found  Baltimore  under  the  control  of  a  mob.  A 
portion  of  them  were  armed  with  muskets,  stolen 
from  an  arsenal.  While  circulating  among  them  (this 
was  on  Sunday)  their  murderous  purposes  were  read 
ily  perceived.  The  telegraph  wires  and  railroad  tracks 
between  Baltimore  and  Havre  de  Grace  (wThere  trains 
cross  the  Susquehanna)  had  been  destroyed.  Never- 
10* 


220  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

theless,  somebody  had  obtained  a  copy  or  two  of  that 
number  of  the  New  York  Herald  which  declared  in 
favor  of  maintaining  the  Union  by  force.  The  man 
ifesto  was  read  to  a  great  throng,  and  it  was  easy  to 
pick  out  the  Secessionists  by  the  fall  of  their  coun 
tenances. 

On  Monday,  a  small  party  of  us  hired  at  an  exor 
bitant  rate  a  man  to  carry  us  to  Havre  de  Grace.  He 
proved  to  be  a  deputy  sheriff  of  Harford  County,  re 
siding  at  Bel  Air,  who  had  just  come  to  Baltimore 
with  passengers  from  the  IS~orth.  Baltimore  was 
then  a  nest  of  rebels,  and  Maryland  was  on  the  verge 
of  secession.  The  towns  we  went  through  wrere  in 
flamed  with  excitement.  I  was  on  the  box  with  our 
sheriff,  who  seemed  to  know  everybody,  and  would 
shout  to  the  crowds,  "  Hurrah  for  Jeff. !"  at  the  same 
time  punching  me  and  saying,  "  I'll  take  care  of  my 
load."  We  stopped  at  Bel  Air  to  dine.  Our  wagon 
stood  in  the  street  with  half  a  dozen  trunks  marked 
"  !N"ew  York,"  and  so  on,  which  loungers  kept  curious 
ly  inspecting.  We  waited  a  couple  of  hours  after  din 
ner  ;  the  horses  had  been  stabled ;  the  sheriff  could 
not  be  found ;  the  landlord,  whom  we"  had  liberally 
rewarded  for  our  dinner,  was  away,  and  there  were 
no  signs  of  preparation  for  our  departure.  The  court 
house  was  near  at  hand,  and  I  had  noticed  that  a  tu 
multuous  meeting  was  going  on  within,  while  a  rough 
crowd  hung  around  the  door.  After  a  long  delay  the 
landlord  appeared,  a  team  was  attached  to  the  vehi 
cle,  and  the  landlord  shook  hands  with  us,  saying,  in 
a  significant  tone, "  Gentlemen,  you'll  find  us  all  right 
the  next  time  you  venture  down  into  Dixie." 


BENJAMIN    F.  BUTLER.  227 

Now  for  the  cause  of  our  detention.  The  meet 
ing  at  the  court-house  had  been  summoned  to  decide 
whether  the  county  should  go  with  the  Secessionists. 
Our  arrival  had  raised  a  side  issue  in  a  small  circle  of 
violent  men,  some  of  whom  wanted  to  hang  us,  while 
others  proposed  to  detain  us  for  examination.  The 
sheriff  or  landlord  interposed,  and  we  were  allowed 
to  depart.  On  arriving  at  Havre,  we  found  that  Gen 
eral  B.  F.  Butler  had  been  there  and  captured  all  the 
ferry-boats  for  the  transportation  of  Massachusetts 
troops  to  Washington  via  Annapolis.  We  hired  a 
rowboat  to  take  us  across  the  Susquehanna  to  the 
railway  depot,  Avhich  a  Pennsylvania  regiment  was 
at  that  moment  entering,  the  flags  flying  and  drums 
beating.  Half  a  dozen  fellows  tried  to  prevent  our 
crossing  the  river.  A  small  scuffle  ensued,  and  we 
were  afloat.  They  fired  muskets  at  us,  but  the  shades 
of  the  evening  were  gathering,  and  they  missed  the 
mark.  I  conferred  with  the  commander  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  regiment,  giving  him  the  latest  information 
from  Baltimore  and  Washington,  whither  he  was 
bound,  provided  he  could  reach  there. 

Irrepressible  Ben  Butler !  His  prompt  seizure  of 
the  ferry-boats  gave  the  country  a  foreshadowing  of 
his  stern  quality.  Clearer  than  most  others  he  saw 
the  end  from  the  beginning.  Baltimore  never  be 
haved  so  well  as  when  cowering  under  the  muzzles  of 
his  cannon.  But  Maryland  was  slow  to  take  in  the 
situation,  and  did  not  come  to  its  senses  till  General 
George  B.  McClellan  shut  the  doors  of  its  legislature 
to  prevent  the  state  being  carried  out  of  the  Union. 
And  so  it  was  in  New  Orleans.  That  turbulent  city 


228  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

was  kept  in  good  order  when  ruled  by  General  But 
ler's  pen  and  sword. 

I  had  previously  known  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton  as 
the  reporter  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  when  I 
saw  him  in  1856  at  Washington,  where  he  had  come 
to  practise  law.  We  held  a  chatty  interview,  in  which 
he  said  we  were  kindred,  his  great-grandfather  (per 
chance  it  was  the  grandfather),  like  mine,  having 
been  a  Ehode-Islander.  We  acted  on  this  assumption 
for  a  good  while ;  but  afterwards  an  expert  in  gene 
alogy,  who  volunteered  to  trace  our  lineage,  informed 
us  that  though  we  sprang  from  the  same  stock,  our 
common  ancestor  lived  long  before  King  Philip 
pitched  his  tent  on  Mount  Hope,  or  Roger  Williams 
put  his  spade  into  Providence  plantations.  He  ran 
our  line  back  to  Anno  Domini  1010,  which  being  half 
a  century  before  William  the  Conqueror  set  foot  on 
Saxon  soil,  I  begged  him  to  pause  lest  he  land  our 
progenitors  in  the  Silurian  epoch  when  the  first  Dr. 
Darwin  electrified  the  mollusks  by  foreshadowing  the 
evolution  theory  of  the  origin  of  man. 

I  met  Mr.  Stanton  many  times  while  he  was  at  the 
head  of  the  War  Department.  If  he  was  as  brutal 
an  administrator  of  that  office  as  his  enemies  were 
wont  to  assert,  I  never  discovered  it.  He  discharged 
its  duties  according  to  his  own  views  of  right  and 
expediency  during  a  civil  war  whose  magnitude  has 
no  parallel  in  modern  times,  and  when  the  armies  of 
the  belligerents  were  twice  as  large  as  the  forces  ever 
commanded  by  the  great  Xapoleon.  A  dozen  Wa- 
terloos  were  fought  by  troops  which  he  had  sum 
moned  to  the  field,  and,  like  Pitt  and  Carnot,  he  was 


EDWIN    M.  STANTOX.  229 

the  minister  who  organized  victory.  He  died,  worn 
out  by  patriotic  labors.  While  the  great  secretary 
was  living,  Northern  demagogues  and  Southern  trai 
tors  denounced  him.  Their  calumnies  have  not  ceased 
since  he  Avas  laid  to  rest.  I  have  seen  him  in  very 
trying  and  sometimes  extremely  irritating  circum 
stances,  but  only  once  was  he  rude  or  even  discourte 
ous.  I  will  briefly  refer  to  this  rather  amusing  inci 
dent.  His  office  was  hung  with  maps  that  bore  on 
their  surface  mysterious  marks  in  inks  of  various  col 
ors.  He  had  left  his  room  unoccupied  for  a  few  min 
utes.  On  returning  to  it  he  found  a  plainly-dressed 
countryman  lifting  up  and  looking  at  one  or  two  of 
the  maps.  The  secretary  violently  exclaimed,  "  What 
rebel  emissary  do  we  find  here  overhauling  the  secret 
archives  of  the  War  Department  ?  Who  are  you  !" 
he  thundered  ?  "  This  explains  how  it  is  that  impor 
tant  intelligence  leaks  out  of  this  office,  and  falls  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Who  are  you  ?"  He  then 
pounded  the  bell  for  a  messenger,  and  in  the  uproar 
the  countryman,  pale  as  a  ghost,  contrived  to  make 
his  way  out  of  the  building.  He  soon  returned  from 
Willard's  Hotel,  accompanied  by  his  member  of  Con 
gress,  who  proceeded  to  explain  that  his  constituent 
had  two  sons  in  the  army,  and  one  had  been  wounded 
and  was  pining  in  a  hospital,  and  the  father  wanted 
permission  to  go  through  the  lines  and  take  him 
home ;  and  that  he  had  a  letter  of  introduction  in  his 
pocket  from  the  Congressman  to  the  secretary  when 
he  stalked  accidentally  into  his  empty  room  half  an 
hour  ago ;  and  so  on  and  so  forth.  Stanton  instantly 
comprehended  the  situation.  He  bowed  and  bowed, 


230  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

shook  hands  with  the  Congressman  and  the  country 
man,  and  bowed  again  to  each,  but  made  no  allusion 
to  the  previous  explosion.  He  listened  to  a  short 
story  about  the  wounded  soldier,  and  immediately 
drafted  the  orders  for  his  father  to  visit  the  hospital 
and  take  him  home.  On  the  way  back  to  Willard's 
the  Congressman  offered  to  bet  fifty  dollars  with  his 
delighted  constituent  that  he  would  have  failed  to 
carry  his  point  if  the  Secretary  had  not  burst  into  a 
passion  when  he  caught  him  overhauling  the  maps 
and  called  him  a  rebel  emissary. 

I  witnessed  another  scene  that  illustrated  the  Sec 
retary's  proverbial  promptness  of  decision  and  rapid 
ity  of  execution.  One  morning  when  he  came  to  his 
office  he  found  a  miscellaneous  company  of  thirty  or 
forty  men  and  women  (mostly  of  the  middle  class) 
awaiting  his  arrival.  By  his  direction  a  messenger 
conducted  them  into  an  adjoining  room,  in  the  centre 
of  which  was  a  little  desk  resting  on  a  pillar.  Soon 
the  secretary  entered,  bowing  suavely,  and  took  his 
stand  by  the  desk,  while  I  settled  into  a  chair  and 
looked  on.  He  called  to  his  side  the  oldest  and  plain 
est-dressed  woman  in  the  crowd,  and  mildly  asked, 
u  Madam,  what  can  I  do  for  you  ?"  He  listened  to  a 
short  narrative,  drew  up  and  gave  her  a  brief  note, 
and  told  a  messenger  to  take  "  this  lady  "  to  the  Adju 
tant-general's  office.  Instantly  another  aged  woman 
stood  at  the  desk  and  handed  him  a  letter.  He  read 
it,  endorsed  several  lines  on  the  back,  and  she  dis 
appeared  under  the  guidance  of  a  messenger.  To  the 
next  he  said,  "  Madam,  your  business  belongs  to  the 
Navy  Department.  Messenger,  show  this  lady  the 


EDWIN    M.  ST ANTON.  231 

way  to  the  Navy  Department."  To  one  he  gravely 
remarked,  after  glancing  over  her  papers,  "  This  is  a 
serious  matter.  I  must  examine  it  carefully.  Please 
step  into  my  office,  and  wait  till  I  come."  And  in 
this  manner  he  went  through  the  entire  list,  patient 
ly,  urbanely,  quietly,  disposing  of  every  case  right  on 
the  spot,  except  three  or  four  that  were  quite  intri 
cate.  He  cleared  the  room  in  forty-five  minutes. 

A  Republican  client  of  mine,  a  large  grocer,  had 
trusted  sutlers  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac  to  the 
amount  of  several  thousand  dollars.  He  came  to  me 
in  terror,  armed  with  a  letter  of  Governor  Morgan, 
endorsing  his  patriotism  and  integrity,  and  said  I 
must  go  to  Washington  with  him  in  the  next  train, 
and  procure  permission  for  him  to  pass  through  the 
lines  to  collect  what  the  sutlers  owed  him  or  he  should 
lose  it,  for  he  knew  our  army  was  about  to  attack  the 
enemy,  and  the  sutlers  would  be  scattered,  and  per 
haps  knocked  to  pieces.  We  arrived  in  Washington 
the  next  morning.  When  the  Secretary  reached  the 
office  I  humorously  remarked  that  I  wished  to  make 
a  draft  on  the  well-known  urbanity  of  all  the  Stan- 
tons  for  many  generations,  "  which  I  am  doing  so 
much  to  dissipate,"  broke  in  the  Secretary,  in  the 
same  vein.  I  explained  my  business,  vouched  for  the 
loyalty  and  prudence  of  my  client,  showed  the  letter 
of  Mr.  Morgan,  and  expressed  the  hope  that,  in  such 
an  exigency,  he  would  let  the  grocer  pass  the  lines 
and  collect  his  dues,  or  he  would  be  ruined.  Stanton 
struck  the  table  and  rose  from  his  chair.  "  How  does 
this  man  know  that  the  army  is  about  to  move  and 
fight  a  battle  ?"  "  How  does  he  know  anything  about 


232  EANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

it?"  I  told  him  I  had  not  the  slightest  idea.  He 
then  went  stamping  around  the  room,  wondering  why 
outsiders  got  up  these  preposterous  reports,  but  at  the 
same  time  expressing  his  indignation  at  the  leaks  that 
were  constantly  occurring  in  the  War  and  Navy  de 
partments — all  of  which  satisfied  me  that  the  army 
was  about  to  attack  the  enemy.  Mr.  Stanton  resumed 
his  seat,  cooled  off,  sent  for  Mr.  Wolcott,  one  of  his 
assistants  (and  his  brother-in-law,  I  believe),  and  told 
him  to  hear  me,  and  do  what  I  wished.  My  client 
went  through  the  lines,  obtained  his  money,  and  was 
just  leaving  when  our  artillery  opened  fire. 

The  following  anecdote  gives  a  glimpse  of  the  fa 
miliar  relations  subsisting  between  the  President  and 
the  Secretary.  Owen  Lovejoy,  a  member  of  Con 
gress  from  Illinois,  obtained  from  Mr.  Lincoln  a  prom 
ise  to  issue  a  certain  war  order,  but  added,  "  You  must 
go  and  tell  Stanton  about  it."  He  went.  "  Did  the 
President  say  he  would  issue  such  an  order  2"  inquired 
the  Secretary.  "  He  did,"  responded  Lovejoy.  "  Then 
he  is  a  fool — a  great  fool,"  replied  Stanton.  Lovejoy 
returned  to  the  President,  and  repeated  the  conversa 
tion  between  him  and  the  Secretary.  "  Did  Stanton 
say  I  was  a  fool  ?"  inquired  Lincoln.  "  He  did,"  said 
Lovejoy.  "  Then  I  think  I  am  a  fool,  for  Stanton  is 
generally  right,"  was  the  characteristic  reply  of  the 
President. 

My  authority  for  the  following  incident  was  pres 
ent  at  the  Cabinet  meeting  where  it  occurred :  Mr. 
Stanton,  the  Secretary  of  War,  came  in  with  the  de 
tails  of  a  foreshadowed  plan  for  a  simultaneous  attack 
on  the  rebels  at  three  points,  in  which  he  would  want 


EDWIN    M.  STANTON. — GIDEON    WELLES.  233 

a  little  assistance  from,  the  Navy.  Stanton  described 
his  first  place  of  attack,  and  said  the  troops  would 
need  the  co-operation  of  one  or  two  gunboats.  The 
President,  addressing  Secretary  Gideon  Welles,  asked 
if  they  could  be  furnished.  He  wriggled  around  in 
his  chair,  and  said  he  couldn't  tell,  but  would  inquire, 
and  let  them  know  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Cabinet. 
And  this,  in  substance,  was  his  response  on  all  the 
three  points  of  Stanton' s  programme.  Putting  one 
of  his  feet  on  the  table,  the  vexed  President  said, "  Mr. 
Secretary,  will  you  please  tell  us  all  you  know  about 
the  Navy,  and  then  we  shall  know  all  you  don't  know 
about  it."  I  have  thought  that  the  other  members 
of  the  Cabinet  did  not  fully  appreciate  Mr.  Welles. 
I  was  much  with  him  in  the  Fremont  campaign,  and^ 
know  that  he  was  a  gentleman  of  sound  judgment 
and  tireless  industry.  The  Cabinet  was  torn  by  fac 
tions,  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  tried  to  steer 
clear  of,  and  mind  his  own  affairs. 

Mr.  Stanton  would  sometimes  express  his  weariness 
of  the  toils  and  trials  of  the  War  Department,  and  his 
strong  desire  to  return  to  the  practice  of  the  law. 
When  consulting  with  a  general  of  the  army,  who 
was  a  lawyer,  about  the  Military  Governorship  of 
Washington,  he  gave  vent  to  his  ardent  feelings  in 
that  direction,  but,  suddenly  checking  the  current,  he 
exclaimed,  "However,  I  shall  remain  here  and  try 
our  Great  Cause  through  to  the  end." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Mr.  Lincoln  and  Dr.  McPheeters. — Lincoln's  Story. — Roscoe 
Colliding  and  Noah  Davis  Candidates  for  the  Senate  in  1867. — 
Conkling  Elected. — Defeat  of  Morgan  by  Fenton  for  the  Senate 
in  1809. — Escape  of  Marshall  O.  Roberts  from  the  Lobby. — 
Democratic  National  Convention  of  1868.  —  Seymour  Favors 
Chase. — Vallandigham's  Course. — Seymour  Nominated. — Grant 
Elected. — Seymour  Urged  to  Accept  the  Senatorship  in  1875; 
Refuses;  Why.  —  Seward's  Trip  around  the  World. — Death  of 
Seward  in  1872. — R.  B.  Hayes  Running  for  Governor  of  Ohio  in 
1875. — Senator  Thurman's  Singular  Prediction. — Conkliug  and 
Platt  Resign  from  the  Senate,  and  Lapham  and  Miller  Succeed 
them  in  1881. — Conkling's  Success  at  the  Bar. 

MY  brother,  Rev.  R.  L.  Stanton,  D.D.,  was  a  leader 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  a  warm  friend  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  during  the  war.  In  the  great  struggle  he 
was  aggressively  on  the  side  of  the  Union,  and  in  fa 
vor  of  the  emancipation  policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  In 
1862-63  the  Rev.  Dr.  McPheeters,  a  prominent  Pres 
byterian,  was  preaching  at  St.  Louis.  Major-general 
Curtis  commanded  in  that  military  department.  One 
Sunday  Dr.  McPheeters  uttered  some  sentiments  that 
were  deemed  disloyal.  The  next  Sunday  Dr.  Mc 
Pheeters  found  the  doors  of  his  church  closed  by  or 
der  of  General  Curtis.  There  was  immediate  trouble, 
not  alone  in  St.  Louis,  but  in  Washington.  A  com 
mittee,  composed  of  both  factions,  went  to  see  the 
President.  Finding  Dr.  Stanton  in  "Washington,  they 
requested  him  to  go  with  them  to  the  White  House 


PRESIDENT    LINCOLN.  235 

and  present  them  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  President  lis 
tened  patiently,  and  then  spoke  as  follows : 

"  I  can  best  illustrate  my  position  in  regard  to  your 
St.  Louis  quarrel  by  telling  a  story.  A  man  in  Illi 
nois  had  a  large  watermelon  patch,  on  which  he  hoped 
to  make  money  enough  to  carry  him  over  the  year. 
A  big  hog  broke  through  the  log-fence  nearly  every 
night,  and  the  melons  were  gradually  disappearing. 
At  length  the  farmer  told  his  son  John  to  get  out  the 
guns,  and  they  would  promptly  dispose  of  the  disturb 
er  of  their  melon-patch.  They  folloAved  the  tracks  to 
the  neighboring  creek,  where  they  disappeared.  They 
discovered  them  on  the  opposite  bank,  and  waded 
through.  They  kept  on  the  trail  a  couple  of  hundred 
yards,  when  the  tracks  again  went  into  the  creek,  but 
promptly  turned  up  on  the  other  side.  Once  more 
the  hunters  buffeted  the  mud  and  water,  and  again 
struck  the  lead  and  pushed  on  a  few  furlongs,  when 
the  tracks  made  another  dive  into  the  creek.  Out  of 
breath  and  patience,  the  farmer  said, '  John,  you  cross 
over  and  go  up  on  that  side  of  the  creek,  and  I'll  keep 
upon  this  side,  for  I  believe  the  old  fellow  is  on  both 
sides.'  Gentlemen,"  concluded  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  that  is 
just  where  I  stand  in  regard  to  your  controversies 
in  St.  Louis.  I  am  on  both  sides.  I  can't  allow  my 
generals  to  run  the  churches,  and  I  can't  allow  your 
ministers  to  preach  rebellion.  Go  home,  preach  the 
Gospel,  stand  by  the  Union,  and  don't  disturb  the 
government  with  any  more  of  your  petty  quar 
rels." 

Dr.  Stanton  said  that,  when  the  belligerents  reached 
Willard's  Hotel,  they  had  a  hearty  laugh,  and  made  up 


230  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

their  minds  that  they  would  go  home  and  follow  the 
President's  advice. 

In  January,  1867,  Mr.  Conkling,  having  won  a  high 
reputation  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  was  a  can 
didate  for  United  States  Senator.  He  was  supported 
with  fidelity  and  enthusiasm  by  a  large  body  of  the 
most  skilful  politicians  in  the  state.  His  leading  op 
ponent  was  Noah  Davis,  then  on  the  Bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  Eighth  District.  In  the  con 
test  at  Albany  Mr.  Conkling  prevailed  over  Judge 
Davis  by  a  narrow  majority.  The  learning,  acumen, 
and  versatility  displayed  by  Mr.  Davis  on  the  Bench 
in  western  New  York,  and  as  Presiding  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  in  the  metropolitan  city,  and  while 
a  member  of  the  Forty-first  Congress  and  United 
States  Attorney  in  the  Southern  District  of  New 
York,  are  recognized  by  his  fellow-citizens.  But  it 
is  not  so  widely  known  that,  in  the  Free-soil  conflict 
of  1848,  he  was  an  active  Barnburner.  I  was  on  the 
platform  with  him  before  a  large  out-door  meeting  in 
Albion  in  that  campaign.  He  was  then  the  law  part 
ner  of  Sanford  E.  Church.  He  would  have  ably  rep 
resented  the  state  as  a  Senator  in  Congress. 

In  1863  Edwin  D.  Morgan  wielded  the  influence 
he  had  acquired  in  two  gubernatorial  terms  to  secure 
an  election  to  the  Senate.  His  six  years  at  Washing 
ton  would  expire  in  March,  1869.  He  had  no  doubt 
that  he  would  be  his  own  successor.  He  heard  that 
Reuben  E.  Fen  ton  sought  his  place.  It  did  not  occur 
to  him  that  the  wily  Chautauqua  sachem  had  just  com 
pleted  four  years'  service  in  the  Executive  Chamber 
at  Albany,  and  still  tarried  in  that  city  to  manage 


EDWIN    D.   MORGAN. — REUBEN    E.  FENTON.  2o  < 

his  Senatorial  canvass.  Morgan  was  cautioned  to 
take  heed  to  the  selection  of  a  Speaker  of  the  Assem 
bly,  for  he  would  wield  great  power,  especially  in  the 
appointment  of  the  committees,  most  of  which  in 
those  days  were  lucrative.  Morgan  declared  himself 
satisfied  with  Truman  G.  Younglove  for  Speaker. 
He  was  under  a  strange  delusion,  for  Younglove  was 
the  fast  friend  of  Fenton. 

The  new  Speaker  took  the  chair  at  the  opening  of 
the  session ;  the  Assembly  met  daily,  but  no  commit 
tees  were  announced.  Weeks  rolled  away,  the  Speak 
er's  rooms  were  all  the  time  full  of  applicants  for  fat 
berths,  and  by  and  by  he  proclaimed  that  no  commit 
tees  would  be  appointed  till  after  the  Senator  was 
chosen.  The  capital  city  w as  crowded  with  Republi 
cans  from  every  portion  of  the  state.  Fenton  was 
as  unruffled  as  Ghaut auqua  lake  in  summer.  Morgan 
began  to  be  disturbed,  broke  up  his  quarters  at  Wash 
ington,  came  to  Albany,  and  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  forces.  Rumor  was  at  fault  if  plenty  of  money 
was  not  in  circulation.  It  was  asserted,  and  believed, 
that  $12,000  were  paid  for  the  sole  item  of  bare  rooms 
at  one  hotel  wherein  to  bivouac  Morgan's  troops.  So 
hard  pressed  were  Fenton' s  lines  that  he  invited  his 
rich  and  liberal  friend,  Marshall  O.  Roberts,  of  New 
York,  to  take  his  place  as  a  candidate.  He  came  up, 
but  after  looking  over  the  ground,  and  seeing  a  de 
mand  for  $250,000  by  the  lobby  staring  him  in  the 
face,  he  returned  to  the  city,  because  it  was  feared 
that  in  an  attempt  to  carry  all  the  Fenton  men  over 
to  Roberts  a  few  might  fall  out  of  line.  It  was 
amusing  to  hear  Roberts,  in  his  characteristic  style, 


238  BANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

describe  his  escape  out  of  the  hands  of  the  hungry 
Albany  lobby  on  this  occasion. 

The  evening  for  holding  the  caucus  arrived.  No 
body  who  was  at  the  capital  during  the  previous 
twenty-four  hours  will  ever  forget  the  exciting  scene. 
The  caucus  assembled.  It  elected  its  president,  sec 
retaries,  and  tellers,  and  now  the  Republican  Speaker, 
who  had  all  the  committees  in  his  brain,  rose,  and  in 
a  fitly  framed  speech  nominated  for  Senator  in  Con 
gress  Reuben  E.  Fenton.  It  hardly  need  be  added 
that  those  who  had  been  badgering  him  for  several 
weeks  for  first-class  places  on  leading  and  lucrative 
committees  read  between  the  lines,  and  were  pretty 
sure  that  they  saw,  in  clearest  words,  dropping  from 
the  lips  of  Mr.  Younglove : 

"  JSTow  all  you  that  want  me  to  listen  to  you  two 
days  hence,  had  better  listen  to  me  now." 

The  result  was  that  Mr.  Fenton  was  nominated  on 
the  first  ballot.  Mr.  Morgan  paid  his  bills  and  went 
back  to  Washington,  a  wiser  and  a  sadder  man. 

The  Democratic  Convention  of  1868,  for  nominat 
ing  a  candidate  for  President,  met  in  Tammany  Hall. 
Mr.  Seymour  presided,  and  Mr.  Tilden  was  chairman 
of  the  New  York  delegation.  It  was  the  first  time 
the  Democracy  of  the  nation  had  assembled  together 
for  eight  years.  The  war  was  over,  slavery  had  dis 
appeared,  and  old  party  lines  were  faint  and  feeble. 
The  candidates  for  the  Presidential  nomination  were 
numerous,  but  Mr.  Seymour  was  not  among  them. 
He  favored  Salmon  P.  Chase.  He  had  prepared  a 
speech  which  he  intended  to  deliver,  when  an  oppor 
tune  moment  arrived,  for  presenting  Chase's  name. 


SEYMOUR    AND    CHASE.  239 

But  he  failed  to  bring  certain  elements  in  the  New 
York  delegation  to  adopt  his  plan,  and  it  was  quietly 
dropped.  It  was  asserted  and  believed  that  Clement 
L.  Vallandigham,  a  delegate  from  Ohio,  who  was  hos 
tile  to  Chase,  feared  that  Seymour's  wishes  might 
finally  prevail,  and  therefore  took  the  lead  in  the 
irresistible  stampede  that  forced  the  nomination  on 
Seymour  himself,  in  spite  of  his  earnest  protestations. 
I  have  seen  some  of  the  private  correspondence  that 
passed  between  the  ex-Governor  and  the  Chief -Justice 
at  this  period,  wherein  the  latter  warmly  thanked 
the  former  for  the  efforts  he  had  made  to  give  him 
the  nomination.  The  light  shed  on  coalitions  of  this 
sort  by  the  result  of  Mr.  Greeley's  candidacy,  four 
years  later,  leads  to  the  belief  that  if  Chase  had  been 
nominated,  in  1868,  he  would  have  fared  as  badly  as 
Seymour  did. 

Mr.  Fenton's  term  as  Senator  in  Congress  expired 
in  18 75.  The  Democrats  controlled  the  legislature. 
It  was  the  first  time  in  thirty  years  that  they  had 
been  able  to  elect  a  Senator.  Governor  Seymour  was 
pressed  to  take  the  office.  The  Democrats  in  the 
Senate  and  Assembly  were  eager  to  confer  it  upon 
him.  He  was  urged  to  accept  from  all  quarters.  I 
plied  him  through  the  newspapers  and  by  correspond 
ence.  He  resolutely  refused.  He  silenced  me  by  a 
long  letter,  breathing  the  noblest  sentiments,  which 
I  would  print  here  if  I  could  lay  my  hand  upon  it. 
In  it  he  enforced  with  rare  felicity  of  diction  the 
proposition  that  to  exert  great  influence  in  public  af 
fairs  it  is  not  necessary  to  hold  office.  I  have  ample 
grounds  for  supposing  that  one  of  the  reasons  for  his 


2iO  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

peremptory  refusal  to  go  to  the  Senate  was  that  he 
felt  that  deafness  was  creeping  upon  him,  and  he  did 
not  like  to  enter  an  arena  with  waning  powers,  where 
his  name  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  had  ranked  so 
high. 

I  was  strongly  in  favor  of  the  return  of  Mr.  Conk- 
ling  and  Thomas  C.  Platt  to  the  Senate  in  1881, 
after  their  resignation.  I  had  been  a  resigning  Sena 
tor,  in  a  very  small  way,  just  thirty  years  before,  and 
knew  how  it  was  myself.  So  I  stood  by  the  resign 
ing  Senators  on  this  broader  and  grander  field.  I  had 
better  luck  than  they,  for  I  was  re-elected,  while  they 
were  defeated.  But  I  would  not  again  resign,  to  pre 
vent  in  that  way  the  passage  of  a  fifteen  million  un 
constitutional  canal  bill.  I  do  not  know  whether  they 
would  again  resign,  to  prevent  by  that  method  the 
appointment  of  a  collector  of  customs  for  'New  York. 
Their  unwise  rejection  by  the  legislature,  and  the 
election  of  Elbridge  G.  Lapham  and  Warner  Miller 
in  their  stead,  was  far-reaching  in  its  consequences. 
It  gave  Alonzo  B.  Cornell  leave  to  retire  to  private 
life  at  the  close  of  his  first  gubernatorial  term,  and 
gave  James  G.  Blaine  long-coveted  leisure  for  employ 
ing  a  graphic  pen  on  an  interesting  period  of  modern 
history. 

I  have  no  personal  knowledge  that  enables  me  to 
penetrate  the  motives  that  impelled  Mr.  Conkling  to 
resign  from  the  Senate.  Perhaps  he  had  grown  weary 
of  his  protracted  labors  in  Congress.  Possibly  he  saw 
foreshadowed  on  the  horizon  factional  feuds  in  the 
Garfield-Blaine  administration,  and,  as  a  Republican, 
had  no  wish  to  participate  in  them.  If,  however,  the 


WILLIAM    H.  SEWARD.  241 

chief  end  he  had  in  view  was  to  resume  the  undis 
turbed  practice  of  the  law,  then  the  opportune  mo 
ment  he  selected  for  carrying  this  purpose  into  effect 
has  already  been  crowned  by  a  success  that  has  few 
parallels  in  the  history  of  the  New  York  bar.  By 
and  by  Mr.  Conkling  may  return  to  politics.  He 
has  the  example  of  Mr.  Sevvard  before  him,  in  the 
six  busy  years  that  intervened  between  the  close  of 
Seward's  service  as  Governor  of  New  York  and  the 
commencement  of  his  term  as  Senator  at  Wash 
ington. 

On  Mr.  Seward's  return,  in  the  fall  of  1871,  from 
his  trip  around  the  globe,  Mr.  Hugh  J.  Hastings  ar 
ranged  a  plan  for  my  going  with  the  Governor  to 
Auburn,  accompanied  by  a  stenographer,  to  get  a 
condensed  report  of  his  journey  for  publication  in  the 
New  York  Sun.  Mr.  Dana  and  I  conferred,  and  I 
went  up.  The  report  filled  a  broadside  of  the  Sun, 
and,  as  Mr.  Seward  subsequently  told  me,  it  saved 
him  much  trouble,  for,  when  any  of  his  friends  asked 
him  about  his  trip,  he  immediately  gave  them  a  copy 
of  the  newspaper.  Of  the  many  incidents  that  oc 
curred  during  this  trip  to  Auburn  I  will  relate  but 
one.  The  morning  after  our  arrival  Mr.  Seward  was 
walking  in  his  grounds.  The  servant  was  pointing 
him  to  this,  that,  and  the  other  thing,  but  he  kept 
saying,  "  Show  me  the  bird."  I  did  not  understand 
what  he  meant.  Soon  we  stood  before  the  largest 
eagle  I  ever  saw,  enclosed  in  a  great  cage.  The  Gov 
ernor  looked  at  the  eagle ;  the  eagle  looked  at  tlm 
Governor.  They  exchanged  winks,  as  much  as  to 
say,  "  We  understand  each  other."  Mr.  Seward  then 
*  11 


242  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

exclaimed,  with  some  emotion,  "When  1  was  in 
Alaska  they  gave  me  that  eagle,  and  that  is  all  I 
ever  got  for  my  trouble  in  negotiating  the  Alaska 
treaty,  except  a  great  deal  of  undeserved  personal 
abuse." 

In  the  autumn  of  1872  Mr.  Seward  died.  In  1828 
I  had  been  a  member  of  the  Young  Men's  State  Con 
vention,  over  which  Mr.  Seward  presided.  I  now 
stood  by  his  open  grave.  In  the  intervening  forty- 
four  years  he  had  played  a  great  part  in  the  history 
of  his  country. 

The  contest  for  the  Governorship  of  Ohio,  in  1875, 
between  William  Allen  and  Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 
exhibited  features  of  national  importance.  I  spent  a 
few  weeks  in  the  state  while  this  extraordinary  cam 
paign  was  in  progress.  Both  candidates  were  ad 
dressing  large  audiences.  Allen  w^as  impressive,  saga 
cious,  bold.  Hayes  was  respectable,  commonplace, 
feeble.  Among  other  distinguished  speakers  whom 
I  heard  were  ex-Governor  Koyes,  afterwards  Minister 
to  France,  Senator  McDonald,  of  Indiana ;  Judge 
Taft,  subsequently  Minister  to  Austria,  and  Senator 
Allen  G*  Thurman.  In  a  conversation  with  the  lat 
ter  at  Columbus  he  made  a  prediction  which  then 
seemed  to  me  singular.  He  said  that  if  Hayes  de 
feated  Allen  in  the  pending  struggle  he  would  be  the 
next  Republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  Hayes 
did  defeat  Allen,  and  he  was  the  candidate.  The 
ablest  man  whom  I  met  in  my  Western  tour  was  Mr. 
Thurman.  It  must  have  annoyed  eminent  statesmen 
like  him,  aspiring  to  be  President,  to  see  small  politi 
cians  preferred  before  them.  The  Presidency  is  dwin- 


ALLEN    G.  THURMAN.  243 

dling  in  importance  with  every  passing  term.  Con 
gress  controls  the  administration  of  the  Federal  gov 
ernment.  The  leader  of  the  House  and  the  leader  of 
the  Senate  exert  more  influence  than  presidents  in 
moulding  vital  measures  of  public  policy. 


CHAPTER  XXY. 

Samuel  J.  Tilden;  Lis  Triumph  over  the  Canal  Ring  and  Hie 
Tweed  Ring;  his  Sudden  Death;  his  Note  to  the  Author  about 
"Random  Recollections." — State  Convention  of  1874,  when  he 
was  Nominated  for  Governor.  —  The  (N.  Y.)  Sun's  Editorial 
Article.— Tilden  Elected.— The  Presidential  Contest  of  1876.— 
Tilden  Dies  of  Heart  Disease. — Ex-Governors  Clinton,  Wright, 
Marcy,  and  Fenton  Fall  by  the  same  Malady  under  Peculiar 
Circumstances. — Notice  of  Robert  L.  Stanton,  D.D.;  his  Death 
in  Mid-Ocean  in  Ma}r,  1885. — The  Presbyterian  General  Assem 
bly's  Tribute  to  his  Memory. 

WHEN  those  animosities,  rivalries,  and  prejudices 
that  spring  from  party  strife  have  passed  away  Sam 
uel  J.  Tilden  will  be  classed  among  the  eminent  men 
of  his  era.  I  became  associated  with  him  in  the  mem 
orable  contest  of  1848,  when  he  stood  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  Barnburners.  In  the  two  rather  incom 
patible  qualities  of  calm,  studious,  and  philosophic 
statesmanship,  and  the  capacity  to  gather,  classify, 
and  apply  the  statistics  of  a  political  campaign,  I  do 
not  remember  to  have  met  his  equal.  As  the  Chair 
man  of  the  Democratic  State  Committee,  he  would 
deliver  an  address  that  might  have  honored  Thomas 
Jefferson.  In  the  subsequent  campaign  he  would 
handle  the  figures  of  the  canvass  witli  a  skill  that 
astonished  Thurlow  Weed.  But  far  above  all  else 
v  rose  his  genius  for  administrative  reform.  While 
Chief  Magistrate  of  the  foremost  commonwealth  in 
the  Union  he  broke  in  pieces  the  canal  ring  in  the 


SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN.  245 

state,  and  the  Tweed  ring  in  the  metropolis,  which 
had  long  been  entrenched  behind  corrupt  combina 
tions  that  had  few  parallels  in  our  history  for  the 
power  they  had  wielded  and  the  audacity  they  had 
displayed  through  a  series  of  years.  Mr.  Tilden  there 
by  won  the  confidence  of  honest  and  sagacious  men 
in  both  political  parties.  The  ability  and  integrity 
wherewith  he  performed  the  duties  of  the  gubernato 
rial  office  brought  to  him  the  Democratic  nomination 
to  the  Presidency  in  1876.  I  never  met  a  candid,  in 
telligent  Republican,  who  was  thoroughly  informed 
in  regard  to  the  facts,  that  seemed  to  doubt  that  he 
was  fairly  entitled  to  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the 
electoral  college  in  that  famous  contest. 

I  had  written  the  above,  and  the  unfinished  manu 
script  was  lying  before  me,  when  I  received  the  tidings 
of  Mr.  T Helen's  sudden  death.  I  need  not  say  that  the 
unexpected  event  impressed  me  profoundly.  He  was 
my  junior  by  nine  years.  How  many  old  acquaint 
ances  have  fallen  since  I  issued  the  first  edition  of  this 
small  volume.  In  February  last  I  sent  Mr.  Tilden  a 
copy  of  the  second  edition.  He  acknowledged  it  in  a 
brief  note,  which  I  should  not  print  if  he  were  living. 
I  insert  it  simply  because  it  avouches  his  capacity  at 
so  recent  a  date  for  devouring  books. 

"GREYSTONE,  YONKERS,  K  Y.,  Feb.  12,  1886. 
"DEAR  MR.  ST  ANTON,— I  thank  you  for  the  copy  of  your  "Ran 
dom  Recollections,"  \vhich  I  found  so  interesting  that  I  read  it 
through  at  one  sitting. 

"  With  my  best  wishes  for  your  health  and  happiness,  I  remain, 
"Very  truly  yours,  S.  J.  TILDEN." 

I  was  at  the  State  Convention  of  1874,  in  Syracuse, 
which  nominated  Mr.  Tilden  for  Governor.  He  was 


24:6  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

present  as  Chairman  of  the  State  Committee.  Gov 
ernor  Seymour  and  DeWitt  C.  Littlejohn  (Greeley  Lib 
eral  in  1872)  were  delegates.  The  convention  was  far 
from  united  on  the  question  of  the  gubernatorial  can 
didate.  Many  prominent  members  doubted  the  expe 
diency  of  nominating  Mr.  Tilden.  The  Xew  York 
Sun  had  given  voice  to  these  doubts.  On  the  17th  of 
September  the  convention  came  to  a  ballot,  when  Mr. 
Tilden  received  252  votes,  ex-Judge  Amasa  J.  Parker 
126?  and  a  few  were  thrown  for  others.  William 
Dorsheimer  (Greeley  Liberal  in  1872)  was  unanimous 
ly  nominated  for  Lieutenant-governor,  on  motion  of 
Mr.  Littlejohn.  The  Democratic  campaign  opened 
languidly,  and  for  a  while  it  was  believed  that  Gen 
eral  Dix,  the  Republican  candidate  for  Governor, 
would  be  re-elected.  The  Sun  looked  on,  kept  its 
powder  dry,  and  reserved  its  fire.  By  and  by  Mr. 
Dana  suggested  that  it  was  time  for  the  Sun  to  hoist 
its  colors.  On  the  7th  of  October,  three  weeks  after 
the  nomination,  the  following  article  appeared  at  the 
head  of  the  editorial  columns.  If  it  be  in  bad  taste 
to  quote  from  one's  self,  then  I  am  a  transgressor.  It 
is  only  the  death  of  Mr.  Tilden  that  justifies  its  pub 
lication  here : 

"  One  of  the  most  essential  requisites  for  making  a  good  Gov 
ernor  of  New  York  is  that  the  man  should  possess  sufficient  inde 
pendence  and  courage  to  resist  the  dictation  of  the  leaders  of  the 
party  which  placed  him  in  office.  If  Mr.  Tilden  is  elected  in  No 
vember  he  will  be,  in  the  particular  we  have  mentioned,  one  of  the 
best  Democratic  governors  the  state  has  ever  had.  Indeed,  in  the 
whole  list,  Silas  Wright  alone,  the  most  distinguished  member  of 
the  political  school  in  which  Mr.  Tilden  was  raised,  can  be  com 
pared  with  him. 

"  Maroy  and  Seymour  were  able  and  upright  ia  the  ad  minis- 


SILAS    WEIGHT    AND    SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN. 

tratiou  of  affairs,  but  they  were  strong  partisans,  and  never  rose 
to  the  height  of  resisting  the  prevailing  current  of  Democratic 
opinion.  But  Governor  Wright  was  a  thorough  Jeffersonian  Dem 
ocrat.  His  integrity  was  above  reproach,  and  his  leading  charac 
teristic  was  self-poised  independence.  On  two  or  three  memorable 
occasions  he  displayed  this  quality  by  pursuing  a  line  of  policy  in 
relation  to  important  measures  directly  hostile  to  the  sentiments 
and  purposes  of  the  great  majority  of  the  Democratic  party,  both 
in  this  state  and  throughout  the  country.  Early  in  1844,  when  the 
Democracy  were  running  mad  in  favor  of  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
Mr.  Wright,  then  in  the  Senate,  persuaded  Mr.  Van  Buren  to  write 
his  famous  letter  against  annexation.  This  letter  caused  the  de 
feat  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  nomination  to  the  Presidency  in  the  Na 
tional  Convention  of  that  year.  In  the  summer  of  1846,  when  Mr. 
Wright  was  Governor,  and  the  Democracy  were  running  wild  in 
favor  of  the  conquest  of  Mexican  territory,  in  order  to  plant  slavery 
therein,  he  avowed  himself,  in  the  most  explicit  terms,  a  supporter 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  celebrated  Wilmot  Proviso.  This  avowal 
drove  from  Wright  just  enough  rabid  Hunkers — Bourbons  they  are 
now  called— to  defeat  his  re-election  as  Governor  in  that  year. 

"For  Silas  Wright,  a  prospective  candidate  for  President,  to  thus 
set  himself  in  opposition  to  the  great  body  of  his  party,  exhibited 
extraordinary  fidelity  to  convictions  and  a  noble  moral  courage. 
We  have  no  doubt  that  under  analogous  circumstances  Mr.  Tilden 
would  pursue  the  same  course;  for  on  many  occasions  he  has  shown 
that  his  mind  is  made  of  like  metal  with  that  which  composed  Mr, 
Wright's.  We  believe  that  Mr.  Tilden  followed  the  lead  of  Mr. 
Wright  in  1844  and  1846.  We  know  that  he  carried  the  creed  of 
that  eminent  disciple  of  Jefferson  and  Tompkins  to  its  logical  con 
clusions  at  the  Buffalo  Convention  of  1848,  which  brought  out  Van 
Buren  and  Adams,  in  that  notable  campaign,  under  the  banner  of 
'Free  Soil,  Free  Speech,  Free  Press,  Free  Men.' 

"But  Mr.  Tilden  has  displayed  his  courage  and  his  independ 
ence  of  party  under  far  more  trying  circumstances  than  those  we 
have  detailed;  and  he  has  shown  these  qualities  in  a  very  marked 
manner,  and  right  under  the  eyes  of  those  who  are  to  pass  upon 
his  fitness  for  the  office  of  Governor.  We  refer,  of  course,  to  his 
agency  in  breaking  up  the  Tammany  ring  in  1871,  the  subsequent 
flight  of  Conolly,  and  conviction  of  Tweed  and  their  associates, 
and  many  other  events  which  attended  or  followed  that  explosion. 


248  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Nobody  doubts  that  Mr.  Tilden  was  the  leader  in  this  struggle.  He 
elbowed  Richard  B.  Conolly  out  of  the  comptroller's  office  and 
pushed  Andrew  H.  Green  in.  He  caused  the  Tammany  delegation 
— stained,  but  regular — to  be  rejected  by  the  Democratic  State  Con 
vention,  and  he  advocated  the  admission,  though  without  success, 
of  the  irregular  anti-Tammany  delegation.  Elected  to  the  Assem 
bly  in  November  of  that  year,  he  declined  to  attend  the  Democratic 
caucus  for  nominating  a  candidate  for  Speaker,  although  he  was 
then  chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  Committee;  and  he  pursued 
a  course  quite  independent  of  his  party  to  the  end  of  the  session. 
By  this  policy  he  aroused  some  hostility  among  a  section  of  the 
Democratic  managers,  who  wrerc  able  to  send  Governor  John  T. 
Hoffman,  instead  of  him,  as  one  of  the  delegates  at  large  to  the 
Baltimore  Convention,  which  nominated  Horace  Greelcy.  To  Mr. 
Tilden  is  largely  due  the  reorganization  of  Tammany  Hall,  by  turn 
ing  out  the  old  sachems  and  installing  the  new  regime  that  now 
controls  a  society  whose  powerful  influence  has  been  felt  for  half  a 
century  in  the  politics  of  New  York,  aed  whose  every  representa 
tive  at  the  recent  State  Convention  cast  his  vote  for  Samuel  J.  Til 
den,  as  the  nominee  for  Governor. 

"  The  fact  that  Mr.  Tilden  has  done  much  of  what  we  have  re 
cited,  in  the  face  of  vigorous  Democratic  influences,  raises  a 
strong  presumption  that  if  he  were  Governor  of  the  state  he 
would  have  the  courage  to  pursue  the  right  path,  although  in 
so  doing  he  might  sometimes  run  counter  to  the  wishes  of  Demo 
cratic  leaders." 


Mr.  Tilden  knew  nothing  of  this  article  till  his  eye 
fell  on  it  in  the  Sun.  I  was  told  that  he  ordered  five 
thousand  copies  of  the  paper  for  circulation.  When 
the  October  elections  of  1874:  were  over  the  Demo 
cratic  tidal  wave  set  in  all  through  the  country.  Mr. 
Tilden  carried  !New  York  against  General  Dix  by 
more  than  fifty  thousand  majority. 

Mr.  Tilden  died  of  one  of  the  many  forms  of  what 
is  called  "  heart  disease."  It  is  a  rather  remarkable 
coincidence  that  five  of  the  distinguished  statesmen 


CLINTON. — WRIGHT. — MAECY.  249 

who  filled  the  office  of  Governor  of  New  York  fell 
by  this  malady. 

"  On  February  11,  1828,  De  Witt  Clinton,  then  Gov 
ernor,  a  man  of  majestic  presence,  had  been  at  the 
Executive  Chamber  in  the  Capitol  attending  to  offi 
cial  business,  the  legislature  being  in  session.  In  the 
evening  he  was  sitting  in  his  private  library  with  his 
son,  looking  over  his  afternoon  mail.  He  had  a  letter 
in  his  hand,  when  his  head  dropped  on  his  breast,  and 
he  immediately  expired.  He  died  of  heart  disease, 
then  little  known  under  that  name. 

Silas  Wright,  a  totally  different  man  from  Clinton, 
was  a  part  of  the  time  during  his  public  career  his 
contemporary,  and  always  his  political  opponent.  On 
August  27, 1847,  Mr.  Wright  went  to  the  post-office 
in  his  little  town  of  Canton,  in  the  county  of  St.  Law 
rence.  He  was  reading  a  letter  when  his  head  sank 
upon  the  table  and  he  died  of  heart  disease  without  a 
moment's  warning.  He  had  retired  from  the  office 
of  Governor  the  previous  January. 

William  L.  Marcy  was  Governor  for  three  terms, 
Secretary  of  War,  and  Secretary  of  State.  He  went 
out  of  the  latter  office  on  March  4, 1857.  On  July  4 
of  that  year  he  was  resting  at  Ballston  Spa.  He  had 
taken  lunch  and  repaired  to  his  room,  where  he  was 
found  an  hour  afterwards  quite  dead,  with  a  volume 
of  Cowper's  poems  in  his  hand.  He  had  expired  of 
heart  disease. 

Ex-Senator  Reuben  E.  Fenton  occupied  the  guber 
natorial  chair  of  Xew  York  for  four  years.  In  Au 
gust,  1885,  while  in  good  health,  he  was  at  his  desk 
in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Jamestown,  of  which 


250  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

he  was  President,  reading  his  correspondence.  With 
out  the  slightest  premonition  he  fell  backward  in  his 
chair,  convulsively  clutching  at  a  letter  he  was  at 
that  moment  answering,  gave  a  long,  gasping  breath, 
and  soon  expired.  He  died  of  heart  disease. 

I  have  been  at  a  loss  in  the  selection  of  the  most 
appropriate  place  in  this  "  random  "  work  for  a  notice 
of  my  last  brother.  He  was  a  many-sided  man,  and 
wrote  more  than  he  talked,  and  studied  and  thought 
more  than  he  talked  or  wrote.  He  was  a  scholar,  a 
divine,  an  author,  and  an  editor  ;  and  he  was  so  thor 
oughly  informed  in  political  affairs  that  this  brief 
tribute  to  his  memory  might  find  a  proper  place 
among  either  of  those  five  classes  of  citizens. 

There  were  six  children  in  my  father's  family.  All 
were  born  in  Pachaug.  I  am  the  only  survivor.  My 
eldest  brother,  Eev.  Kobert  L.  Stanton,  D.D.,  was  born 
in  March,  1810.  He  was  living  w^hen  the  first  edition 
of  this  work  was  issued.  He  was  graduated  at  Lane 
Seminary ;  was  pastor  in  Mississippi,  JSTew  Orleans, 
and  Ohio ;  President  of  Oakland  College,  Mississippi, 
and  subsequently  President  of  Miami  University, 
Ohio ;  Professor  of  Theology  in  Danville  Seminary, 
Kentucky;  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  1866 ;  and  United  States 
Government  Visitor  at  West  Point.  He  wrote  much 
for  magazines  and  newspapers,  and  was  the  author 
of  several  books  and  pamphlets.  Princeton  College 
conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  D.D.  while  he  was 
yet  a  young  man.  In  May,  1885,  he  sailed  for  Eu 
rope,  as  had  been  his  wont  before,  to  recuperate  en- 
erHes  exhausted  bv  mental  toil.  But  unmindful  of 


REV.   KOBERT    L.    STAXTOX.  251 

the  fact  that  his  health  was  unusually  feeble,  and  that 
he  was  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age,  he  car 
ried  the  pitcher  once  too  often  to  the  fountain,  and  it 
was  broken.  He  died  at  sea  on  May  28,  and  was 
buried  in  mid-ocean.  When  the  intelligence  of  his 
decease  reached  America,  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly  was  in  session  at  Cincinnati.  That  vener 
able  body  placed  on  its  journal  this  memorial :  "  The 
General  Assembly  records  its  tribute  of  respect  for 
the  memory  of  Rev.  Robert  L.  Stanton,  D.D.,  Moder 
ator  of  the  Assembly  of  1866.  It  recognizes  the  faith 
fulness  and  efficiency  with  which  he  discharged  the 
duties  of  the  office,  and  the  value  to  the  Church  of 
his  services  as  pastor,  editor,  and  teacher.  Sincerely 
sorrowing  for  the  loss  it  has  sustained,  the  Assembly 
hereby  expresses  its  sympathy  with  the  bereaved  fam 
ily,  and  directs  that  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  minute, 
attested  by  the  Moderator,  and  Stated  and  Permanent 
Clerks,  be  forwarded  to  the  family  of  Dr.  Stanton. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

American  Journalism. — Its  Rank  as  a  Profession. — Earliest  News 
papers. — First  Daily  Paper. — Philadelphia  Advertiser. — Boston 
Centinel. — National  Gazette. — Controversy  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson  over  Freneau. — Early  Dailies  in  New  York  City. — 
Three  Famous  Editors.  —  Bitter  Tone  of  the  Press.  —  List  of 
Distinguished  Contributors. — Duels. — Early  Journalism  in  New 
England. — Iludc  Methods  of  Collecting  News  and  Circulating 
Papers. — Post-riders  and  Reporters. — The  Deacon  and  the  Mo 
hawks. — Dailies  in  New  York,  Alban}r,  and  Rochester  in  1826. — 
The  Rochester  Advertiser  the  First  Daily  Issued  West  of  the 
Hudson  and  Delaware  Rivers. — Henry  O'Reilly.  —  Cincinnati 
Gazette  and  Charles  Hammond. — Louisville  Journal  and  George 
D.  Prentice. — List  of  Celebrated  Contributors  in  that  Era. — 
Later  Editors.— Charles  A.  Dana.— Henry  J.  Raymond. — John 
G.  Whittier. — George  William  Curtis. 

IT  would  be  wholly  aside  from  the  purposes  of  this 
publication  to  give  even  an  outline  of  the  wide  field 
of  American  journalism.  I  shall  glance  at  it  from 
my  individual  standpoint,  and  jot  down  little  except 
selections  from  what  I  personally  know  on  the  sub 
ject. 

Journalism  not  only  ranks  among  the  learned  pro 
fessions  both  in  respect  to  the  influence  it  exerts,  and 
the  intellectual  qualifications  necessary  to  succeed  in 
it,  but  in  peculiar  fields  it  leads  all  the  others.  If 
some  of  our  ablest  lawyers  were,  without  disclosing 
their  names,  to  send  editorial  articles  to  the  foremost 
city  journals  on  topics  outside  of  their  profession,  an 


NATIONAL    GAZETTE.''     253 

impartial  hand  would  frequently  consign  them  to  the 
waste  basket.  Newspaper  reporters  of  the  thorough 
ly  trained  school  are  superior  to  lawyers  of  the  mid 
dle  class.  It  is  a  fact  alike  notorious  and  disgraceful 
that  in  some  of  the  chief  cities  of  the  Union  there  are 
presiding  justices  in  civil  and  criminal  courts  of  large 
jurisdiction  who  can  neither  speak  or  write  their  na 
tive  language  grammatically  or  clearly.  It  need  hard 
ly  be  added  that  such  jurists  (!)  would  not  be  toler 
ated  for  a  moment  as  reporters  on  respectable  news 
papers. 

The  press  in  America  rose  to  its  present  colossal 
dimensions  from  small  beginnings.  The  first  news 
paper  was  issued  at  Boston  in  1701.  Down  to  1725 
four  others  were  established  in  Boston,  New  York, 
and  Philadelphia.  They  were  little  dingy  sheets, 
measuring  eight  or  nine  inches  by  ten,  issued  weekly 
or  fortnightly,  with  a  very  meagre  supply  of  brains, 
news,  advertisements,  and  subscribers. 

The  first  daily  journal  in  the  United  States  was  the 
Daily  Advertiser,  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1785. 
The  great  paper  of  the  period  was  the  Boston  Ccnti- 
nel,  edited  by  the  famous  Major  Ben  Kussell.  It  was- 
intensely  Federal,  and  the  leading  advocate  in  after- 
years  of  the  policy  of  Washington  and  Adams  in  op 
position  to  that  of  Jefferson  and  Madison.  Its  rival 
was  the  National  Gazette  issued  at  Philadelphia,  then 
the  seat  of  government,  in  1791.  Its  editor  was  the 
celebrated  Philip  Freneau,  a  clerk  in  the  office  of  Jef 
ferson,  Secretary  of  State  in  General  Washington's 
Cabinet.  Freneau  was  a  caustic  writer,  voiced  the 
bitter  politics  of  that  era.  and  was  highly  offensive  to 


254  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

Washington.  But,  in  spite  of  very  direct  hints  to  do 
so,  Jefferson  refused  to  deprive  him  of  his  clerkship. 
In  1793  the  Minerva  was  started  in  New  York  city, 
whose  first  editor  was  Noah  Webster,  familiar  to  us 
as  the  distinguished  lexicographer.  It  ultimately 
bloomed  into  the  Commercial  Advertiser.  The  New 
York  Post  was  established  in  1801.  Both  have  flour 
ished  to  this  day.  In  1801  there  were  three  promi 
nent  editors  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  namely : 
Coleman  of  the  Post,  Cheetham  of  the  Citizen,  and 
Duane  of  the  Aurora.  The  first  was  a  Federalist ; 
the  two  latter  were  Democrats.  Mr.  Duane  was  the 
father  of  that  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  whom  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  a  third  of  a  century  afterwards,  ejected 
from  office  because  he  would  not  remove  the  Federal 
deposits  from  the  United  States  Bank,  and  appointed 
Roger  B.  Taney  to  do  the  work.  One  morning  in 
1801  the  Post  assailed  its  two  opponents  thus : 

"  Lie  on,  Duane — lie  on  for  pay, 

And  Cheetham,  lie  thou  too- 
More  against  truth  you  cannot  say, 
Than  truth  can  say  'gainst  you." 

Think  of  the  Evening  Post  of  to-day  lunging  into 
two  of  its  "  esteemed  contemporaries  "  in  this  style  ! 
It  seems  to  take  all  the  originality  out  of  Dr.  Gree- 
ley's  celebrated  outburst :  "  You  lie,  you  villain  ;  you 
know  you  lie !" 

From  the  opening  of  Washington's  second  Presi 
dential  term  till  the  end  of  Madison's  administration, 
the  tone  of  the  press  was  to  the  last  degree  acrimoni 
ous.  Of  the  closing  five  or  six  years  of  this  period  I 
can  speak  of  my  own  knowledge.  My  father  was  a 


EARLY    JOURNALISM.  255 

Madisonian  leader  in  the  eastern  portion  of  Connec 
ticut,  and  subscribed  for  several  newspapers  of  that 
faith.  The  Federal  leaders  did  the  same  by  their 
journals.  The  consequence  was,  the  men,  women,  and 
children  of  the  vicinage  became  peppery  partisans. 
So  it  was  all  through  the  country.  Every  neighbor 
hood  was  kept  in  a  broil  by  the  "  organs  "  of  the  two 
parties.  Others  besides  their  regular  managers  often 
contributed  to  their  columns.  Among  these  were 
John  Adams,  Timothy  Pickering,  Joseph  Story,  Aaron 
Burr,  John  Jay,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Edward  Liv 
ingston,  De  "Witt  Clinton,  Matthew  S.  Davis,  Wash 
ington  Irving,  and  Albert  Gallatin.  The  pens  of  these 
prominent  men  were  dipped  in  gall.  Quarrels  in  those 
early  days  meant  serious  business.  The  wooded  slopes 
of  Hoboken  were  "  the  bloody  assizes  "  to  which  many 
editors  and  politicians  carried  their  New  York  con 
troversies  for  final  arbitrament. 

To  form  a  correct  notion  of  the  journalism  of  New 
England,  and,  indeed,  of  any  portion  of  the  country, 
eighty-one  years  ago,  when  I  was  born,  we  must  dis 
miss  all  existing  ideas  on  the  subject  from  our  minds. 
Not  only  the  telephone,  the  telegraph,  the  railway, 
and  the  steamboat  must  fade  into  mist,  but  even  the 
mail,  as  a  means  of  collecting  news  and  distributing 
newspapers  within  circles  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  miles 
in  circumference,  must  disappear.  Editors,  of  course, 
existed,  but  the  imagination  did  not  dream  of  the  re 
porter,  now  one  of  the  main  driving-wheels  of  Amer 
ican  journalism,  the  essential,  useful,  and  ornamental 
appendage  to  every  newspaper,  whether  metropolitan 
or  rural ;  a  class  not  easily  deceived  or  eluded,  capa- 


256  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

ble  of  painting  the  tamest  scenes  in  the  liveliest  col 
ors,  and,  when  in  search  of  truth,  may  sometimes  be 
tempted  to  supply  deficiencies  by  inventions,  but  whose 
fictions  are  usually  more  entertaining  than  their  facts. 
In  the  early  days  the  nearest  approach  to  the  mod 
ern  reporter  was  the  post-rider.  When  the  weekly 
newspapers  were  printed  at  the  county  seat  he  took 
a  pile  in  his  "  saddle-bags,"  mounted  his  horse,  and 
rode  into  the  surrounding  towns  to  dispense  his  treas 
ures  and  pick  up  a  little  local  information  for  the  next 
number.  He  usually  delivered  the  sheet  in  person, 
but  here  and  there,  at  cross-roads,  was  a  little  box, 
adapted  to  shed  rain,  nailed  to  a  tree,  where  he  depos 
ited  a  few  papers  to  supply  some  adjacent  hamlet. 
When  he  delivered  the  papers  he  was  often  bored  to 
drop  an  item  or  two  of  later  intelligence  than  that  in 
their  columns.  The  following  incident  occurred  in 
my  native  county  seventy-five  years  ago :  An  aged 
deacon  had  a  confused  idea  of  the  upper  lakes  and  a 
mortal  dread  of  the  Mohawk  Indians.  He  hung  heav 
ily  on  the  skirts  of  the  post-rider,  who  resolved  to 
shake  him  off.  One  day  he  handed  him  the  paper, 
and  the  deacon  bored  him  for  fresh  news.  With  hor 
ror  depicted  on  his  countenance,  he  told  the  deacon 
that  the  Mohawks  were  digging  through  the  banks 
of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  that  the  water  would  soon 
pour  down  from  the  west,  and  that  all  IS"ew  England 
Avould  be  drowned  by  a  flood  as  disastrous  as  that  of 
Koah's  time.  The  post-rider  then  put  spurs  to  his 
horse  and  fled.  The  terrified  deacon  ran  to  the  min 
ister  and  told  him  the  terrible  news.  The  clergyman 
opened  the  Bible  and  read  to  him,  from  Genesis,  the 


THE    FIRST    DAILY    NEWSPAPERS.  257 

promise  of  God  that  he  would  never  again  drown  the 
earth  by  a  flood,  and  that  he  had  set  the  bow  in  the 
cloud  as  a  seal  of  this  covenant  with  mankind.  "  Ah, 
my  beloved  pastor,"  responded  the  shivering  deacon, 
"that  don't  apply.  It  is  not  God  that's  going  to  do 
it.  God's  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It's  them  infernal 
Mohawk  Injuns  that's  cutting  down  the  banks !" 

A  word  in  passing  about  the  slow  pace  wherewith 
intelligence  travelled  in  those  days.  One  of  the  most 
important  events  of  modern  times  was  the  battle  of 
"Waterloo,  fought  on  June  18,  1815.  It  changed  the 
map  of  Europe  and  the  face  of  the  civilized  world. 
Napoleon,  who  there  fell  to  rise  no  more,  had  a  great 
party  in  this  country,  and  the  deepest  interest  was 
felt  in  his  fortunes  after  he  escaped  from  Elba,  which 
I  remember  as  vividly  as  if  it  had  happened  in  the 
last  month.  The  battle  of  Ligny  was  fought  on  June 
16,  when  Napoleon  defeated  tough  old  Field-marshal 
Blue  her.  A  slow-sailing  packet  left  Liverpool  for 
]STew  York  just  in  time  to  bring  this  news.  No  other 
packet  was  to  sail  in  twenty  days.  This  country, 
where  party  spirit  ran  high  for  and  against  the  French 
emperor,  was  left  in  terrible  suspense.  The  next  pack 
et  was  forty -five  days  in  crossing,  so  that  we  received 
the  news  of  Waterloo  sixty-five  days,  or  more  than 
two  months,  after  the  event,  when  Louis  XVIII.  was 
on  the  throne  and  Bonaparte  was  on  the  way  to  St. 
Helena.  And  how  much  do  you  think  we  got  in  our 
papers  of  the  great  transactions  that  followed  after 
Ligny  ?  A  leading  American  journal  devoted  a  third 
of  a  column  to  the  subject,  sparing  five  lines  for  a  de 
scription  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo. 


258  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

I  have  already  said  in  these  pages  that  I  left  my 
birthplace  in  Connecticut  in  April,  1826,  for  Roches 
ter,  passing  through  New  York  and  Albany.  At 
that  date  New  York  City  contained  a  population  of 
155,000,  Albany  15,000,  Rochester  3500,  Buffalo  4500, 
Cleveland  500,  but  Chicago  was  not  even  a  dot  on  the 
map.  I  shall  now  refer  only  to  daily  newspapers.  In 
April,  1826,  the  dailies  in  the  metropolitan  city  num 
bered  six  or  seven.  I  recall  the  Gazette  and  General  Ad 
vertiser,  the  Mercantile  Advertiser,  the  Commercial  Ad- 
vertiser,ihe  Post,  the  Advocate,  the  Enquirer,  and  the 
American.  Albany  then  had  two  dailies — the  Adver 
tiser,  Clintonian  in  politics,  and  the  Argus,  Demo 
cratic.  These  nine  were  then  the  only  dailies  in  the 
state.  There  was  not  a  daily  newspaper  in  the  Union 
west  of  New  York,  Albany,  and  Philadelphia.  I  have 
previously  stated  that,  in  the  fall  of  1826,  the  Daily 
Advertiser  was  issued  at  Rochester.  It  was  the  ear 
liest  daily  put  forth  between  the  Hudson  and  Dela 
ware  rivers  on  the  East  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the 
West.  Its  first  editor  was  Henry  O'Reilly,  whom  I 
have  known  and  respected  for  the  past  sixty  years. 
(The  news  of  his  death  at  Rochester  comes  to  me 
while  I  am  revising  this  sheet  of  manuscript.)  The 
next  daily  newspaper  west  of  Rochester  and  Phila 
delphia  was  the  Commercial  Register,  issued  at  Cin 
cinnati  in  1826,  a  little  later  than  O'Reilly's  Adver 
tiser.  It  lived  only  six  months.  The  Cincinnati  Ga 
zette  had  been  published  for  several  years  as  a  weekly 
and  semi-weekly,  when,  on  June  27,  1827,  it  appeared 
as  a  daily.  Either  then  or  immediately  afterwards 
it  came  under  the  management  of  Charles  Hammond, 


GEORGE    D.   PRENTICE. CHARLES    A.    DANA.  259 

whom  I  occasionally  met  when  I  dwelt  at  Cincinnati,  in 
1832,  '33,  J3±,  and  '35.  Mr.  Hammond  had  been  trained 
in  the  law.  He  wielded  a  keen  pen,  and  stood  at 
the  head  of  the  editorial  profession  in  Ohio.  All  the 
Whig  newspapers  of  the  West  and  Southwest,  how 
ever,  were  destined  to  be  overshadowed  by  the  Louis 
ville  Journal,  founded  in  1830,  by  George  D.  Pren 
tice,  of  Pachaug.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  these 
three  dailies — the  Rochester  Advertiser,  the  Cincin 
nati  Gazette,  and  the  Louisville  Journal  —  shine  in 
undimmed  lustre  to-day.  In  this  later  epoch,  as  in 
the  former,  able  men  besides  the  regular  editors  wrote 
for  the  newspapers ;  as,  for  example,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  Daniel  Webster,  Edward  Everett,  Moses  Stu 
art,  Caleb  Gushing,  William  L.  Marcy,  Silas  Wright, 
Benjamin  F.  Butler,  William  H.  Seward,  John  A.  Dix, 
William  Wirt,  Eobert  Barnewell  Khett,  John  C.  Gal- 
houn,  James  Buchanan,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  Amos 
Kendall,  Robert  J.  Walker,  James  G.  Birnoy,  and 
Salmon  P.  Chase.  Some  of  these  gentlemen  were 
frequent  contributors  to  the  press,  and  took  an  active 
share  in  the  political  controversies  of  their  times 
through  that  poAverf  ul  agency. 

I  shall  now  refer  more  particularly  to  some  of  the 
editors  of  newspapers  whom  I  have  known,  omitting 
Thuiiow  Weed,  Horace  Greeley,  and  a  few  familiar 
names  already  described  in  these  pages.  The  number 
of  such  editors  is  so  large  that  a  bare  catalogue  of 
them  would  fill  a  couple  of  pages.  I  must  make  se 
lections  from  a  list  to  every  one  of  whom  I  would, 
did  space  permit,  pay  a  tribute  of  respect. 

For  the  past  sixty  years  I  have  seen  much  of  news- 


260  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

paper  editors.  During  half  of  this  long  period  I  have 
occasionally  contributed  to  journals  mainly  or  wholly 
directed  by  Mr.  Charles  A.  Dana.  More  thoroughly 
than  any  editor  I  have  met  he  has  what  I  call  the 
true  newspaper  instinct.  Prompt  in  judgment  and 
rapid  in  execution ;  quick  to  discern  what  will  take 
with  his  clientage  and  what  will  not ;  capable  of  per 
forming  a  large  amount  of  work  in  a  short  space  of 
time ;  ever  welcoming  valuable  ideas  and  invoking 
picturesque  diction  wherewith  to  clothe  them ;  fond 
of  variety,  pungency,  wit,  and  good-humor,  but,  on 
sufficient  provocation,  hitting  when  he  strikes  and 
leaving  a  mark  where  he  hits;  if  this  country  has 
produced  an  abler  and  more  versatile  occupant  of  an 
editorial  chair  I  have  not  known  or  heard  of  him.  It 
gives  me  pleasure  to  add  that  Mr.  Dana  was  ever  on 
the  kindliest  relations  with  his  editorial  associates, 
and  always  courteous  to  his  employees. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1855,  Daniel  Cady  resigned 
from  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Henry  J.  Eaymond,  editor  of  the  New  York 
Times,  asked  me  to  write  him  an  article  on  the  sub 
ject.  I  complied  with  his  wishes.  This  rapidly  pre 
pared  production  duly  appeared  in  the  Times,  and, 
much  to  my  surprise,  it  subsequently  occupied  twelve 
pages  in  the  appendix  to  the  eighteenth  volume  of 
"  Barbour's  Reports  of  the  New  York  Supreme 
Court,"  where  it  was  given  the  rather  high-sounding 
title  of  "  A  Part  of  the  History  of  the  Bar  and  Bench 
of  New  York."  Mr.  Raymond  was  a  born  journalist. 
He  knew  how  to  build  up  a  successful  metropolitan 
newspaper.  He  wielded  a  pointed  and  graceful  pen 


HENRY    J.   RAYMOND. — JOHN    G.  WHITTIER.  261 

in  the  editorial  chair,  wrote  with  rare  intelligence  and 
skill  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects,  was  thoroughly 
versed  in  political  questions,  enjoyed  a  wide  acquaint 
ance  with  the  public  men  of  the  country,  was  incisive 
and  vigorous  in  controversy,  spoke  well  on  the  plat 
form  and  in  deliberative  bodies,  and  was  an  admira 
ble  presiding  officer.  As  an  editor,  he  delighted  in 
perpetual  war  with  Mr.  Greeley  and  the  New  York 
Tribune.  Mr.  Raymond  was  a  lively  companion,  and 
told  a  story  well.  In  a  familiar  conversation  at  a 
dinner-table  in  Washington  he  was  asked  why  it  was 
that  Mr.  Greeley  called  him  "  The  little  villain  of  the 
Times."  "  Oh,"  replied  Raymond,  "  That  is  to  distin 
guish  me  from  the  big  villain  of  the  Tribune" 

The  person  who  should  propose  to  introduce  John 
Greenleaf  "Whittier  as  a  poet,  in  any  place  whatever, 
would  find  that  the  name  and  fame  of  the  Quaker 
bard  had  arrived  there  before  him.  But  he  is  not  so 
well  known  to  the  present  generation  as  an  editor  of 
newspapers  in  his  early  days.  Born  in  1807,  at  Hav- 
erhill,  on  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  Merrimac,  he 
was  eighteen  years  old  when,  on  a  dark  evening,  he 
timidly  slipped  his  first  communication  for  the  press 
into  the  box  of  the  Gazette,  in  his  native  village,  and 
could  hardly  believe  his  dazzled  eyes  as  he  afterwards 
furtively  peeped  into  the  columns  of  the  paper  and 
beheld  his  production  staring  in  his  face  from  the 
types.  From  his  youth  Whittier  was  an  admirer  of 
Henry  Clay,  and,  in  1829,  he  became  the  editor  of  the 
Boston  American  Manufacturer,  a  journal  that  advo 
cated  Mr.  Clay's  doctrines  on  protection.  He  succeed 
ed  his  friend  and  brother  bard,  George  D.  Prentice,  in 


262  JRANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

the  management  of  the  New  England  Weekly  Review, 
at  Hartford,  when  Prentice  went  to  Kentucky,  in 
1830,  to  establish  the  Louisville  Journal.  In  1832 
Whittier  returned  to  his  first  love,  and  for  about  six 
years  wras  the  editor-in-chief  of  the  Haver  kill  Gazette. 
He  removed  thence  to  the  city  of  William  Penn,  on 
the  shore  of  the  Delaware  river,  and  founded  the 
Pennsylvania*  Freeman,  an  anti-slavery  weekly  paper. 
He  promulgated  his  principles  in  mild  hues  and  win 
ning  ways  for  a  year  or  two,  when  one  of  those 
unique  and  summary  censors  of  the  press  and  conserv 
ators  of  the  peace,  commonly  called  a  mob,  sacked  the 
office  of  the  Freeman  and  burned  it  down,  with  its 
contents.  In  1840  Mr.  Whittier  settled  in  what  con 
tinued  to  be  for  a  long  time  his  rural  home,  at  Ames- 
bury,  on  the  lower  Merrimac.  In  1846  or  1847  he 
became  the  corresponding  editor  of  that  successful 
and  tasteful  journal  the  National  Era,  established 
and  built  up  by  that  able  writer,  Doctor  Gamaliel  H. 
Bailey.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Mrs.  Stowe's 
Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  first  appeared  in  numbers  in 
the  National  Era. 

I  became  personally  acquainted  with  Mr.  Whittier 
in  1834  or  1835.  I  speak  of  him  now  only  as  a  news 
paper  man.  In  the  dozen  years  following  1835  I  spent 
many  months  in  his  company,  and  travelled  with 
him  hundreds  of  miles  in  eight  or  ten  states.  Only 
those  who  know  my  shy  friend  wrell  are  aware  how 
talkative,  genial,  witty,  humorous,  sarcastic,  and  en 
tertaining  he  is  in  bright  hours  with  two  or  three 
companions.  Of  course  we  have  exchanged  many 
letters  in  the  past  half  -  century .  Peculiar  circum- 


JOHN    G.  WHITTIER.  263 

stances  induce  me  to  break  through  my  rule  in  respect 
to  such  correspondence,  and  print  a  recent  note,  mere 
ly  as  a  testimonial  of  my  regard  for  the  author,  who, 
like  me,  is  passing  away.  It  may  be  well  to  say  that 
my  daughter,  Mrs.  Harriot  Stanton  Blatch,  of  Eng 
land,  did  not  find  Mr.  Whittier  at  home  : 

"OAK  KNOLL,  DANVERS,  8th  month,  23,  1886. 

"My  DEAR  STANTON,— I  have  just  got  back  from  Holderness, 
N.  II.,  and  find  thy  letter,  introducing  thy  daughter.  I  regret  that 
she  was  not  able  to  see  me.  I  should  have  been  glad  to  have  met 
her,  for  my  sake  as  well  as  thine. 

"My  dear  old  friend,  how  glad  I  am  to  see  thy  writing  once 
more.  I  wish  I  could  shake  the  hand  that  wrote.  What  times  we 
had  together  when  we  fought  the  wild  beasts  at  Ephesus!  I  think 
over  the  old  days  a  great  deal.  Life  now  is  all  behind  me.  Most 
of  our  early  friends  have  passed  away.  Sewall  and  a  few  others 
still  remain.  But  we  are  really  getting  to  be  the  "Last  of  the  Mo 
hicans!" 

"I  hope  thy  health  is  good.  I  am  only  staying.  I  cannot  write 
without  suffering. 

"  God  bless  thee,  old  comrade!  Ever  and  faithfully  thy  friend, 

"  JOHN  G.  WHITTIER." 

This  note  from  Mr.  Whittier  enclosed  a  copy,  print 
ed  on  a  fly-sheet,  of  his  poem  to  the  memory  of  Sam 
uel  J.  Tilden. 

I  turn  to  an  editor  who  joined  the  guild  of  jour 
nalism  just  as  the  veteran  we  have  been  contemplat 
ing  was  leaving  it.  It  is  difficult  to  find  a  niche  in 
which  to  place  so  versatile  a  man  as  George  William 
Curtis.  Is  he  an  author?  Yes.  Is  he  an  orator? 
Yes.  Is  he  an  editor  ?  Yes.  Assign  him  to  any  of 
these  positions  and  the  designation  would  be  appro 
priate.  Though  an  eloquent  speaker  and  debater, 
fitted  to  shine  in  popular  and  deliberative  bodies,  he 
has  done  the  most  of  his  life-work  with  the  pen,  and 


264  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

much  of  it  on  daily,  weekly,  and  monthly  periodical 
publications.  In  1850  he  became  a  regular  writer  on 
the  New  York  Tribune.  He  was  one  of  the  original 
editors  of  Putnam's  Monthly,  and  for  many  years 
past  has  been  chief  editor  of  the  weekly  journal  of 
the  great  publishing  house  of  Harper  &  Brothers,  and 
a  regular  contributor  to  their  Monthly  Magazine.  Mr. 
Curtis  wras  nominated  in  1864  for  representative  in 
Congress  in  the  First  District  of  ]^ew  York,  in  which 
he  resides,  and  which  was  strongly  opposed  to  his 
political  views.  He  was  defeated,  as  he  doubtless  an 
ticipated,  and  failed  to  enter  an  arena  where  he  would 
have  taken  high  rank  among  the  able  and  brilliant 
members.  But,  after  all,  he  will  perhaps  be  the  long 
est  remembered  for  his  distinguished  services  with  pen 
and  voice  in  the  cause  of  "  Liberty  and  Union"  when 
it  wras  in  extreme  peril. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

American  Journalism. — Vice-President  Wilson  and  Charles  Francis 
Adams. — James  and  Erastus  Brooks. — The  New  York  Express. — 
Lewis  Tappaii  and  David  Hale. — The  Journal  of  Commerce. — 
Early  Modes  of  Getting  News.  — William  Cullen  Bryant  and 
William  H.  Leggett. — New  York  Evening  Post. — Courage  of  The 
Post. — President  Van  Buren. — James  Watson  Webb. — The  Cou 
rier  and  Enquirer. — Famous  Duels  of  Cilley,  Graves,  Webb,  and 
Marshall. — Greeley's  Comments. — Benjamin  Day. — The  (N.  Y.) 
Sun. — James  Gordon  Bennett. — The  New  York  Herald. — "It 
Does  Move."  —  Brave  Editors  and  Journals. — Joseph  Tinker 
Buckingham  and  the  Boston  Courier. — Charles  King  and  the 
New  York  American.  —  Charles  Hammond  and  the  Cincinnati 
Gazette. — James  G.  Birney. — Gamaliel  II.  Bailey. — Elijah  Par- 
rish  Lovejoy. — Cassius  M.  Clay. 

VICE-PRESIDENT  WILSON  was  in  early  days  an  editor 
of  a  Free-soil  newspaper  in  Boston,  in  conjunction 
with  Charles  Francis  Adams.  Indeed,  the  latter  was 
the  founder  and  the  leading  contributor  of  the  paper. 
At  a  later  date  Wilson  wrote  an  elaborate  book,  in 
two  volumes,  entitled,  "  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the 
Slave  Power."  Though  the  style  is  heavy,  it  is  a 
valuable  storehouse  of  facts.  Of  course,  he  gathered 
his  materials  as  others  do.  He  levied  contributions 
among  his  friends.  He  assessed  me  to  the  amount 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  foolscap  pages,  which  he 
wrought  into  the  book.  In  coming  years,  when  some 
Macaulay  shall  compose  a  history  of  this  great  epoch, 
he  will  find  Wilson's  work  a  rich  mine  from  which  to 
draw  materials. 


266  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

In  looking  back  to  discover  the  few,  the  very  few, 
surviving  editors  of  New  York  newspapers  of  early 
days,  the  eye  naturally  falls  on  the  veteran  Erastus 
Brooks.  He  held  a  high  place  in  journalism  for  half 
a  century,  and  is  now  an  occasional  writer  for  the 
press.  The  admirable  letters  that  Mr.  James  Brooks 
wrote,  in  1835,  to  the  Portland  Advertiser,  describing 
his  tour  on  foot  in  Europe,  which  were  extensively 
copied  in  this  country,  deepened  the  desire  in  many 
minds  to  travel  in  those  enchanting  lands.  The  model 
letters  of  Mr.  Erastus  Brooks,  in  the  same  year  and 
the  next  to  the  New  York  Daily  Advertiser,  from 
Washington,  sketching  scenes  in  Congress,  in  that 
exciting  period,  led  many  young  men  to  visit  the  Na 
tional  Capital.  The  two  brothers  established  the  New 
York  Daily  Express  in  1836.  Under  their  manage 
ment  it  rapidly  reached  the  front  rank  among  the 
city  journals.  One  of  its  attractive  features  were 
the  Washington  letters  of  Erastus  Brooks.  In  a  re 
cent  communication  to  the  present  Mail  and  Express, 
he  says  of  the  founding  of  the  Express  of  1836,  that 
"  the  labor  of  starting  a  newspaper  in  New  York  fifty 
years  ago  was  intense,  and  required  patience,  courage, 
self-sacrifice,  and  persistent  effort."  In  this  commu 
nication  the  venerable  journalist  gives  the  following 
interesting  facts :  "  In  the  time  of  the  writer,"  says 
Mr.  Brooks,  "as  editor  and  proprietor,  he  has  seen 
more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  journals  live  and 
die  in  the  city  of  New  York  alone,  and  he  believes 
that  more  than  twenty  millions  of  dollars  was  spent 
in  the  city  papers  from  1836  to  1877.  Only  five  of 
the  one  hundred  and  twenty  journals  in  existence  in 


ERASTUS  BROOKS. LEWIS  TAPPAN.        267 

1836,  and  since  then,  survived  in  1879,  and  one  hun 
dred  and  four  had  disappeared  in  the  space  of  twenty 
years.  In  inexperienced  hands  the  largest  collection 
of  sponges  will  not  imbibe  water  as  rapidly  as  new 
newspapers  will  absorb  money." 

Mr.  Brooks  achieved  distinction  as  a  politician  and 
a  legislator.  He  was  a  leader  in  many  sessions  of  the 
Senate  and  Assembly  of  Xew  York,  and  in  the  Con 
stitutional  Convention  of  1867,  and  the  Constitutional 
Commission  of  1872.  I  have  seldom  heard  his  supe 
rior  in  debate  in  deliberative  or  partisan  bodies.  Ko 
doubt  he  was  somewrhat  indebted  for  his  success  in 
this  field  to  his  early  training  and  long  experience  as 
an  editor.  He  is  an  expert,  too,  in  one  occult  branch 
of  law.  John  C.  Spencer,  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Eras- 
tus  Brooks,  and  Horatio  Seymour  were  able  to  shed 
valuable  light  over  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  when  they  happened  to  be  lay  mem 
bers  of  its  conventions. 

Those  who  have  known  or  heard  of  LewTis  Tappan 
only  as  an  enterprising  merchant,  or  an  Anti-slavery 
agitator,  may  be  surprised  to  see  him  classed  among 
newspaper  editors.  But  this  versatile  and  vigorous 
man  finds  an  appropriate  place  there.  He  and  his 
brother,  Arthur,  founded  the  Xew  York  Journal  of 
Commerce  in  1827,  Lewis  Tappan  being  editor-in-chief, 
and  David  Hale  assistant  editor.  It  was  established 
to  promote  the  interests  of  the  mercantile  class,  and 
to  defend  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion.  Mr. 
Tappan  soon  became  the  sole  proprietor,  and  he  and 
Mr.  Hale  conducted  it  with  so  much  ability  and  spirit 
that  it  early  ranked  among  the  most  important  news- 


268  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

papers  in  the  commercial  metropolis.  Mr.  Tappan  ul 
timately  withdrew  from  its  management,  in  order  to 
devote  his  time  more  exclusively  to  their  mercantile 
firm,  then  one  of  the  largest  silk  houses  in  the  city. 
The  Journal  of  Commerce  went  into  the  control  of 
those  distinguished  editors,  Hale  and  Hallock.  In  1828 
this  paper  stationed  a  swift  vessel  off  Sandy  Hook  to 
obtain  the  European  news  from  inward-bound  ships 
earlier  than  its  contemporaries ;  and  at  a  subsequent 
date  it  ran  a  horse  express  from  Philadelphia  to  New 
York,  which  enabled  it  to  lay  the  proceedings  of  Con 
gress  before  its  readers  a  day  sooner  than  the  other 
journals.  These  projects  (conceived  and  executed  by 
Lewis  Tappan  and  David  Hale)  may  seem  small  to  us, 
but  the  generation  that  had  not  dreamed  of  the  land 
telegraph,  the  submarine  wire,  the  telephone,  or  the 
railroad,  looked  upon  them  as  extraordinary  achieve 
ments. 

In  those  days  I  knew  Mr.  Hale  slightly.  He  was 
born  in  a  lowly,  one  story,  little  clapboard  house,  in 
Lisbon,  just  across  the  Quinnebaug  river  from  Jewett 
City.  I  need  not  say  that  I  was  associated  with  Lewis 
Tappan  all  through  the  struggle  for  the  overthrow  of 
negro  slavery.  He  was  one  of  the  bravest  men  I  ever 
met.  I  have  seen  him  stand  for  an  hour  while  a  mob 
was  raining  a  tempest  of  missiles  upon  our  assembly, 
and  he  seemed  as  cool  as  if  sitting  under  the  shadow 
of  one  of  the  spreading  elms  of  his  native  North 
ampton. 

The  men  of  to-day  have  faint  conceptions  of  the 
bitterness  of  the  controversy  over  a  protective  tariff 
and  the  rechartering  of  the  United  States  Bank  and 


WILLIAM    CULLEN    BRYANT.  269 

cognate  questions  which  raged  in  Jackson's  adminis 
tration.  Part}7  lines  sometimes  crossed,  as  in  the 
memorable  struggle  over  the  nullification  theories, 
engendered  in  the  fertile  brain  of  John  C.  Calhoun. 
On  this  subject  Jackson  and  Benton  were  in  accord 
with  Webster  and  Clay.  During  the  whole  of  this 
historic  crisis  the  New  York  Evening  Post  was  per 
haps  the  ablest  journalistic  supporter  of  the  princi 
ples  and  measures  espoused  by  the  Jackson  party.  It 
was  with  the  hero  of  the  "  Hermitage  "  on  the  tariff, 
the  bank,  and  nullification,  and  was  against  Clay, 
Webster,  and  the  Whigs  in  all  these  measures  except 
the  last.  During  this  troubled  period  Mr.  Bryant  con 
trolled  the  columns  of  the  Post,  but  through  a  por 
tion  of  it  he  was  assisted  by  the  more  fiery  pen  of 
William  Leggett.  Indeed,  it  is  only  stating  the  exact 
truth  to  say  that  Mr.  Leggett  was  a  more  vigorous  and 
versatile  journalist  than  Mr.  Bryant.  Mr.  Van  Buren 
was  inaugurated  as  President  in  March,  1837.  The 
slavery  contest  was  then  at  its  height.  Van  Buren 
bent  to  the  storm,  and  in  his  inaugural  declared  that 
he  would  veto  any  act  which  Congress  might  pass  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
In  an  editorial  in  his  own  separate  paper,  just  then 
started,  Leggett  keenly  criticised  Yan  Buren's  ad 
dress,  saying  that,  as  to  any  explicit  recommendation 
of  measures,  the  President  might  as  well  have  sung 
"  Hail  Columbia  "  or  whistled  "  Yankee  Doodle." 

And  now  an  event  occurred  in  the  history  of  the 
Evening  Post  that  is  worthy  of  special  commendation. 
Yan  Buren  and  Wright  had  foreshadowed  the  Sub- 
treasury  scheme.  The  outbreak  against  the  proposed 


270  RANDOM    EECOLLECTIOXS. 

financial  policy  was  without  a  precedent  in  violence. 
It  was  to  the  last  degree  unpopular  with  the  mone 
tary  and  trading  classes.  But  the  Post,  though  pub 
lished  in  the  banking  and  commercial  metropolis  of 
the  Union,  firmly  stood  by  the  President  and  his  Sub- 
treasury  scheme,  while  in  the  same  columns  it  held 
up  to  indignation  and  contempt  his  pledge  to  inter 
pose  his  veto  against  any  bill  that  should  emancipate 
the  slaves  in  the  district.  To  fully  estimate  the  cour 
age  and  fidelity  of  the  Post  in  this  conjuncture  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  probably,  no  two  propo 
sitions  were  ever  so  unpopular  in  the  city  of  ~New 
York  as  were  the  Sub-treasury  measure  and  the  proj 
ect  of  setting  the  negroes  free  at  the  national  cap 
ital. 

It  is  wise  to  contemplate  instances  of  journalistic 
independence  and  courage.  The  Democratic  party 
had  imbibed  the  infatuated  idea  of  strengthening 
themselves  by  extending  the  area  of  negro  slavery. 
In  spite  of  the  longer  vision  of  Yan  Buren,  Benton, 
Wright,  and  Blair,  the  slavery  propagandists  deter 
mined  to  annex  Texas  to  the  Union  for  the  purpose 
of  planting  the  baleful  institution  therein.  A  small 
band  of  Democrats  resisted  this  wild  scheme  from  the 
moment  of  its  inception.  Yan  Buren  and  his  fol 
lowers  in  New  York  looked  askance  at  the  project, 
but  hardly  dared  to  speak  up  like  men,  and  wither  it 
in  the  bud.  But  the  Evening  Post  did  not  hesitate 
to  follow  where  duty  led.  It  denounced  the  plot,  ex 
posed  the  ulterior  objects  of  the  conspirators,  and  fore 
told  (which  subsequently  came  to  pass)  that  its  con 
summation  would  prostrate  the  Democratic  party  and 


JAMES    WATSON    WEBB.  271 

bring  calamity  on  the  country.  Week  after  week  the 
Post  glowed  with  indignation  against  the  policy  of 
annexation,  so  pregnant  of  present  evils,  so  full  of 
future  disasters.  Mr.  Bryant,  in  this  contest,  had 
many  coadjutors  at  his  side,  but  among  Democratic 
journals  the  Post  stood  almost  alone. 

James  Watson  Webb  founded  the  New  York  Cour 
ier  and  Enquirer  in  1829.  His  career  as  a  journalist 
and  politician  are  too  well  known  to  justify  special 
recital  here.  For  the  first  twenty  years  of  its  long 
life  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  ranked  among  influen 
tial  journals.  At  the  outset  it  supported  the  admin 
istration  of  General  Jackson  in  the  bold  and  vehement 
style  so  characteristic  of  its  editor-in-chief,  and  cham 
pioned  the  President  in  the  earlier  stages  of  his  con 
flict  with  Nicholas  Biddle  and  the  United  States  Bank. 
By  and  by  a  change  came  over  the  newspaper,  and, 
from  being  an  ardent  opponent  of  the  Whig  policy  of 
renewing  the  Charter  of  the  Banks,  it  became  a  zeal 
ous  advocate  of  that  measure.  •  Of  the  alleged  discov 
eries  of  a  Congressional  Committee,  and  the  subse 
quent  charges  of  corruption  by  Jonathan  Cilley,  a 
Democratic  member  of  the  House  from  Maine,  and 
Colonel  Webb's  challenge  of  Cilley  to  a  duel,  and  Cil- 
ley's  refusal  to  meet  him  for  the  asserted  reason  that 
Webb  was  not  a  gentleman,  and  the  taking-up  of  the 
quarrel  by  William  J.  Graves,  a  Kentucky  Congress 
man,  the  second  of  Webb,  and  the  killing  of  Cilley  in 
a  duel  with  Graves,  when  Graves  called  him  to  the 
field  because  Cilley  had  said  that  Graves  was  the 
bearer  of  a  hostile  message  from  an  individual  who 
was  not  a  gentleman— of  this  famous,  foolish,  and  fa- 


272  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

tal  fray  I  shall  record  nothing,  though  I  was  familiar 
with  the  transactions  at  the  time  they  occurred. 

The  Courier  and  Enquirer  now  became  a  prominent 
Whig  journal,  under  the  management  of  Webb.  He 
was  an  aggressive  editor,  indulged  in  pungent  person 
alities,  and  courted  contradiction  and  conflict.  He 
charged  some  of  the  Kentucky  delegation  in  Congress 
with  corruption  respecting  the  Bankrupt  Act.  Thomas 
F.  Marshall,  a  Kentucky  member,  scarified  Webb  on 
the  floor  of  the  House.  Soon  afterwards  Marshall 
came  to  New  York  to  defend  Monroe  Edwards,  a  man 
of  considerable  repute,  who  was  arraigned  on  an  in 
dictment  for  forgery.  Webb  commented  sharply  in 
his  newspaper  on  the  conduct  of  Marshall  in  leaving 
his  seat  in  the  House  to  appear  at  the  bar  of  a  crim 
inal  court  in  a  distant  city.  Day  by  day  the  Courier 
and  Enquirer  blazed  away  at  Marshall.  The  night 
before  he  was  to  sum  up  for  Edwards  he  addressed  a 
note  to  Webb,  telling  him  that  he  should  reply  to  his 
attacks  at  the  opening  of  his  speech.  Colonel  Webb 
appeared  in  court,  and  Marshall,  by  way  of  exordium, 
denounced  him  in  a  bitter  philippic.  The  result  was 
a  challenge  to  a  duel.  The  parties  went  to  Delaware 
for  the  purpose.  They  fought,  and  Webb  was  wound 
ed  in  the  leg.  I  often  saw  him  on  his  crutches.  The 
affair  created  much  excitement,  and  upon  his  return 
to  New  York  Webb  was  indicted  for  leaving  the  state 
to  fight  a  duel.  He  was  found  guilty,  and  sentenced 
to  two  }^ears  in  the  state  prison.  So  great  was  the 
sympathy  expressed  for  him  that  his  friends,  irre 
spective  of  party,  circulated  petitions  praying  for  his 
pardon.  Among  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  seven- 


GKEELEY    AND    WEBB.  273 

teen  thousand  names  appended  to  the  petitions  was 
that  of  Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  the  New  York  Trib 
une,  then  a  rival  of  the  Courier  and  Enquirer.  Mr. 
Seward  was  Governor  of  the  state,  and  a  personal 
friend  of  Webb.  After  Webb  had  been  in  the  Tombs 
a  few  weeks  the  Governor  gave  him  an  unconditional 
pardon,  and  saved  him  from  the  state  prison. 

I  have  related  this  little  piece  of  history  about 
Marshall,  Webb,  Greeley,  and  Seward,  as  an  introduc 
tion  to  a  bit  of  biography  concerning  Webb  and  Gree 
ley.  I  must  here  draw  on  my  memory  for  details, 
and  shall  give  only  the  substance  of  the  editorial  ar 
ticles  in  question.  Though  each  was  a  Whig  "  organ," 
the  Tribune  and  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  were  con 
stantly  in  a  broil.  One  morning  Webb  handled  Gree 
ley  with  severity  in  a  long  editorial.  He  referred  to 
the  peculiar  dress  which  Greeley  wore,  asserting  that 
he  appeared  on  Broadway  in  an  uncouth  garb  merely 
to  arrest  the  attention  of  passers-by.  The  next  morn 
ing  the  Tribune  contained  an  elaborate  reply,  going 
over  Webb's  article  point  by  point.  The  last  subject 
taken  up  by  the  philosopher  of  Spruce  Street  was 
Webb's  reference  to  his  dress.  I  give  only  the  sub 
stance  of  Greeley's  paragraph  relating  to  this  matter. 
"  As  to  our  personal  appearance,"  he  said,  "  it  does 
seem  time  that  we  should  stay  the  flood  of  nonsense 
with  which  the  town,  by  this  time,  must  be  nause 
ated."  He  then  went  on  to  tell  how  he  came  to  New 
York  with  scarcely  a  dollar  in  his  pocket,  and  worked 
as  a  journeyman  printer  ten  or  a  dozen  years,  and 
how  he  had  toiled  till  he  had  become  the  conductor 
of  a  leading  journal  of  the  country.  Greeley  closed 
12* 


274  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

his  cutting  rejoinder  by  a  reference  to  his  efforts  to 
procure  "Webb's  pardon  from  the  state  prison,  about 
in  these  words:  "That  he"  (Greeley)  "ever  affected 
eccentricity  is  most  untrue ;  and  certainly  no  costume 
he  ever  appeared  in  on  Broadway  or  elsewhere  would 
create  such  a  sensation  as  that  which  James  Watson 
Webb  would  have  worn  but  for  the  clemency  of  Gov 
ernor  Seward.  Heaven  grant  that  our  assailant  may 
never  hang  with  such  weight  on  another  Whig  exec 
utive.  We  drop  him." 

I  heard  at  the  time  that  when  Webb  read  this  out 
burst  of  Greeley  he  broke  into  a  laugh,  and  said  he 
forgave  the  irate  philosopher. 

The  Courier  and  Enquirer  covered  so  long  a  period 
that  its  vicissitudes  would  furnish  an  epitome  of  the 
history  of  New  York  journalism.  At  various  times 
Colonel  Webb  had  for  his  chief  of  staff  George  II. 
Andrews  and  Henry  J.  Eaymond.  The  latter  rose 
till  he  practically  became  the  principal  editor.  The 
old  paper  waned  after  Eaymond  left  it  to  build  up 
the  Times,  and  in  1860  it  lapsed  into  the  World. 

I  recall  the  day,  in  1835,  when  the  first  number  of 
the  New  York  Herald  was  sold  in  the  streets  by  a 
dishevelled  set  of  brawling  news  boys,  "price  one 
cent."  These  greasy  and  noisy  youths  were  the 
grandfathers  of  the  lively  and  audacious  gamins  of 
our  times.  The  Sun,  though,  was  the  first  permanent 
daily  penny  paper  in  the  Union.  It  was  issued  in 
September,  1833,  by  Benjamin  Day,  three  years  in 
advance  of  the  Herald. 

On  coming  to  ISTew  York  from  Lane  Seminary,  in 
May,  1834,  or  1835,  to  address  the  American  Anti- 


slavery  Society  (I  was  present  in  both  years),  I  ascer 
tained  that  Lewis  Tappan  had  purchased  a  column  in 
the  little  Stm,  with  the  privilege  of  using  that  column 
as  a  medium  of  publishing,  at  advertising  rates,  such 
matter  as  he  pleased.  He  and  Elizur  Wright  kept 
it  well  supplied  with  anti-slavery  facts  and  figures. 
When  the  Herald  arose  it  eclipsed  the  Sun.  James 
Gordon  Bennett  was  a  canny  Scotchman,  and  pos 
sessed  the  genuine  newspaper  genius.  His  unique 
journal  opened  a  fresh  epoch  in  that  department  of 
literature.  Some  time  after  its  establishment  I  de 
livered  half  a  dozen  lectures  in  the  city  on  the  Slavery 
question,  especially  with  reference  to  the  then  en 
dangered  right  of  petition  and  freedom  of  discussion. 
They  were  reported  in  the  Herald,  after  a  fashion, 
accompanied  by  harmless  ridicule  of  the  subject  and 
the  speaker.  A  friend  recently  sent  me  those  copies 
of  the  Herald.  I  was  interested  in  measuring  the 
space  the  country  had  passed  over  in  the  intervening 
half-century.  "  It  does  move !"  said  Galileo. 

Early  remembrances  in  regard  to  newspapers  are  I" 
so  strong  upon  me  that  I  must  refer  to  two  or  three 
exceptional  cases,  if  it  is  only  to  record  their  names. 
"While  I  was  living  in  Jewett  City,  George  D.  Prentice 
induced  me  to  subscribe  to  the  New  England  Galaxy, 
published  in  Boston  by  the  intrepid  Joseph  Tinker 
Buckingham,  and  to  which  Prentice  was  a  contrib 
utor.  I  kept  the  editor  in  mind  through  a  dozen 
changing  years  after  I  had  ceased  to  read  the  produc 
tions  of  his  pen.  Meanwhile  he  had  founded  and 
raised  to  eminence  the  Boston  Daily  Courier.  When 
I  was  mobbed  in  Massachusetts  in  the  years  1835,  -36, 


276  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

'37,  '38,  Mr.  Buckingham  occasionally  defended  liber 
ty  of  speech  in  able  articles  in  the  columns  of  the 
Courier.  His  caustic  pen  blistered  the  enemies  of 
free  discussion  with  stinging  epithets.  The  like  meed 
of  praise  can  be  bestowed  on  the  New  York  American, 
then  holding  an  unusually  high  literary  rank  among 
the  daily  newspapers  of  the  city.  It  was  conducted 
by  Charles  King,  the  son  of  Rufus  King.  In  that 
prescriptive  era,  when  journals  issued  in  commercial 
centres  that  traded  with  the  South  hardly  dared  to 
vindicate  even  the  right  of  petition,  the  Cincinnati 
Gazette,  under  the  management  of  Charles  Hammond 
(previously  mentioned),  ventured  to  speak  more  brave 
ly  in  support  of  liberty  and  law  than  perhaps  any 
other  daily  newspaper  printed  on  the  banks  of  the 
lower  affluents  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Those  were 
indeed  troublous  days  in  that  portion  of  the  Union. 
James  G.  Birney's  and  Gamaliel  H.  Bailey's  printing 
presses  and  types  were  more  than  once  submerged  in 
the  Ohio  at  Cincinnati,  and  Elijah  Parrish  Lovejoy 
was  shot  to  death  by  citizens  while  protecting  his 
press  and  types  from  a  like  fate  at  Alton.  It  is  pain 
ful  to  hold  up  to  view  the  dark  side  of  this  picture. 
It  is  far  more  agreeable  to  point  to  the  silver  lining 
that  soon  afterwards  began  to  tinge  the  edges  of  the 
sombre  cloud. 

The  five  brave  journalists  just  mentioned  have 
passed  away.  One  of  a  later  period,  who  suffered  in 
the  same  cause,  survives  to  publish  the  history  of  his 
own  perils,  which,  viewed  in  some  aspects,  were  greater 
than  theirs.  I  refer  to  Cassius  M.  Clay.  The  freedom 
of  the  press  never  had  a  more  heroic  champion  than 


CASSIUS   M.  CLAY.  277 

this  distinguished  son  of  Kentucky.  The  first  time  I 
saw  him  was  in  1844,  at  Boston,  in  a  great  meeting 
that  he  was  addressing  in  support  of  the  -election  to 
the  Presidency  of  his  relative,  Henry  Clay.  The  last 
time  I  saw  him  was  at  Johnston,  N.  Y.,  in  1884,  when 
I  was  called  to  the  chair  of  a  meeting  which  he  ad 
dressed  in  support  of  the  election  of  James  G.  .Elaine. 
In  the  intervening  forty  years  Mr.  Clay  had  rendered 
important  services  in  behalf  of  the  slave,  especially 
in  his  native  state,  both  on  the  platform  and  through 
his  newspaper,  the  True  American.  His  life  was  fre 
quently  put  to  hazard ;  his  blood  was  shed  in  encoun 
ters  with  foes  whom  he  contrived  to  overmaster  in 
more  than  one  hand-to-hand  deadly  affray.  The 
liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press  owes  more  to  him 
than  to  any  other  citizen  of  Kentucky.  Portions  of 
his  recently  published  autobiography  read  like  a  tragic 
novel. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

American  Journalism. — Religious  Newspapers. — Albany  Journals 
and  Editors:  The  Argus,  Atlas,  and  Evening  Journal;  Croswell, 
Weed,  Cassidy,  Van  Dyck,  Shaw,  Dawson,  Wilkeson. — Names 
of  Thirty  Persons  whose  Obituary  Notices  were  Written  by  the 
Author  in  Various  Journals. — Death  of  Gerrit  Smith  in  Decem 
ber,  1874.  —  Several  State  Conventions. — Tweed  Exposes  his 
Persecutors  at  Rochester  in  1871.— Conkling  and  Fenton  Cross 
Swords  at  Syracuse  in  1871.—  Tildcn  Nominated  for  Governor 
in  1874,  Robinson  in  1876,  Cornell  and  John  Kelly  in  1879.— 
Speech-Making  and  Reporting. — Meeting  at  Providence  in  1856. 
— The  New  York  Times.— Isaac  Hill  and  the  Concord  Patriot. — 
John  M.  Niles  and  the  Hartford  Times. — Newspaper  Corre 
spondents  Writing  Speeches  for  Senators  and  Congressmen,  and 
Reports  for  Committees,  and  Messages  for  Governors.— Press 
Club  Receptions  in  1885. — Extract  from  President  Amos  J. 
Cumming's  Speech;  he  is  Elected  to  Congress  in  November, 
1886. — The  Great  Newspaper  District  he  Represents. 

THOUGH  a  little  late,  I  will  say,  that  in  the  heat  of 
the  assault  upon  the  Southern  oligarchy,  when  epi 
thets  were  not  always  carefully  chosen  by  the  assail 
ants  on  either  side,  the  charge  was  made  that  the 
religious  newspapers  in  the  North  were  opposed  to 
the  anti-slavery  enterprise.  This  was  at  one  period 
the  attitude  of  journals  of  that  class  in  large  cities, 
but  was  never  true  of  those  published  in  the  country 
districts  and  smaller  towns.  I  occasionally  contrib 
uted  to  the  religious  press,  and  I  affirm  that  in  the 
later  stages  of  our  conflict  with  the  baleful  institution, 
and  especially  in  the  civil  war,  it  was  a  powerful 


THE    CLERGY    IN    THE    ANTI-SLAVERY    CONTEST.       279 

agent  in  the  work  of  securing  the  freedom  of  the 
slave  and  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

These  journals  were  controlled  by  clergymen,  and 
what  I  have  said  of  their  newspapers  will  hold  good 
of  the  body  of  the  ministers  in  the  lS"orth  from  the 
opening  of  the  Anti-slavery  contest  to  its  close.  They 
were  unjustly  accused  of  hostility  to  emancipation. 
This  was  true  for  a  time  in  a  partial  sense  of  those 
who  preached  to  the  wealthy,  aristocratic  churches 
of  the  chief  cities,  but  it  was  otherwise  with  those  of 
the  rural  districts,  and  with  the  ministers  of  two  or 
three  of  the  most  populous  sects,  as,  for  example,  the 
Methodists  and  Baptists.  I  speak  from  personal  ob 
servation  when  I  assert  that  in  the  trying  crisis  of  our 
struggle  there  were  no  firmer  champions  of  the  slave 
than  the  mass  of  the  Northern  clergy.  Indeed,  and 
to  state  the  case  exactly,  some  abolitionists  hated 
ministers  more  than  they  hated  slave-holders.  As 
Alvan  Stewart  once  quaintly  put  it  in  a  convention, 
u  Some  of  our  people  seem  unable  to  get  under  way 
till  they  have  given  the  ministers  a  black  eye." 

In  the  conflicts  between  the  Barnburners  and  the 
Hunkers,  the  young  Albany  Atlas  was  the  organ  of 
the  former,  and  the  venerable  Albany  Argus  of  the 
latter.  William  Cassidy,  the  editor  of  the  Atlas,  was 
a  versatile  writer.  He  was  assisted  by  the  solid  abili 
ties  of  Henry  H.  Yan  Dyck  and  the  sparkling  wit  of 
John  Yan  Buren.  Edwin  Croswell,  who  had  long 
managed  the  Argus,  was  trained  in.  the  Albany  Ke- 
gency,  a  political  organization  that  controlled  the 
Democratic  party  in  Xew  York  for  twenty  years. 
He  was  an  editor  of  rare  gifts.  He  encountered  an 


280  ^RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

opponent  worthy  of  his  blade  in  Mr.  Weed,  of  the 
Albany  Evening  Journal.  The  Argus,  at  a  later  day, 
came  under  the  able  direction  of  Mr.  S.  M.  Shaw,  now 
of  the  Cooperstown  Freeman "s  Journal,  and  absorbed 
the  Atlas.  In  those  days  Governor  Marcy  wrote 
occasionally  for  the  Argus.  The  veteran  George 
Dawson  took  the  helm  of  the  Evening  Journal  after 
the  brilliant  pen  of  Mr.  Samuel  Wilkeson  disappeared 
from  its  columns.  In  the  vicissitudes  of  parties  from 
1848  to  1858,  I  occasionally  wrote  as  a  volunteer  for 
all  of  these  influential  newspapers.  It  would  please 
me  to  speak  of  the  later  days  of  the  Journal  and  the 
Argus,  and  of  those  comparatively  modern  news 
papers  at  the  state  capital,  the  Times,  the  Press,  and 
the  Ex/press  •  but  I  must  move  on. 

I  have  never  been,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  phrase, 
on  the  editorial  staff  of  either  the  New  York  Tribune 
or  the  New  York  Sun.  But  for  the  past  thirty-two 
years  I  have  written  largely  for  each  in  turn,  and 
mostly  in  the  editorial  columns.  The  questions  I 
treated  were  of  every  variety.  There  is  one  topic, 
however,  to  which  I  will  particularly  refer.  It  often 
devolved  upon  me  to  prepare  obituary  notices  of  dis 
tinguished  persons.  They  exhibit  the  defects  of  rapid 
writing,  for  they  were  produced  under  the  pressure 
of  emergencies  that  would  permit  of  no  delay.  I  re 
call  the  following  names  of  subjects,  selected  at  ran 
dom  :  Daniel  Cady,  John  Brown,  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
Charles  Sumner,  Robert  Rantoul,  Horace  Greeley, 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  John  A.  Dix,  William  Cullen  Bry 
ant,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Benjamin  F.  Wade, 
William  Pitt  Fessenden,  Henry  Wilson,  Gerrit  Smith, 


DEATH    OF   GERRIT    SMITH.  281 

Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  William  II.  Se\vard,  Sanford 
E.  Church,  Thurlow  Weed,  James  Watson  Webb, 
Arphaxad  Loomis,  Reuben  E.  Fenton,  Robert  L.  Stan- 
ton,  Horatio  Seymour,  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  Henry 
O'Reilly,  Stephen  Pearl  Andrews,  Rev.  Thomas  S. 
Shipman,  Mrs.  Daniel  Cady,  Mrs.  Gerrit  Smith,  and 
Mrs.  Lucretia  Mott.  It  gave  me  a  melancholy  pleasure 
to  strew  stray  flowers  on  the  graves  of  some  of  my 
coadjutors  in  a  great  cause. 

On  Sunday  afternoon,  December  28, 1874,  I  called 
at  the  house  of  General  John  Cochrane,  in  New  York, 
and  there  learned  that  Gerrit  Smith  had  that  morn 
ing  been  stricken  with  apoplexy,  and  was  lying  un 
conscious  in  the  chamber  above.  That  manly  form 
was  waging  a  desperate  battle  for  life.  His  attending 
physician,  Dr.  Edward  Bayard,  my  brother-in-law,  in 
formed  me  that  it  was  quite  possible  he  might  live 
till  the  next  day.  Late  in  the  evening  it  occurred  to 
me  that  I  would  go  to  the  Sun  office,  and  prepare  an 
obituary  notice  of  the  friend  whom  I  had  known  for 
forty  years.  I  dictated  it  to  a  shorthand  writer.  It 
would  fill  five  columns.  The  hour  of  midnight  ar 
rived,  when  it  must  be  decided  whether  or  not  it  was 
to  go  into  print.  There  was  no  one  to  confer  with 
but  the  night  editor.  I  finally  sent  the  article  to  the 
composing-room,  where  they  prefixed  to  it  the  start 
ling  heading,  "  Gerrit  Smith's  Deathbed."  On  Mon 
day  morning  the  Sun  took  the  town  by  surprise. 
General  Cochrane's  house  was  filled  with  reporters. 
Mr.  Smith  died  about  noon.  Towards  evening  I 
dropped  into  the  Sun  office.  The  night  editor  rushed 
up  to  me,  his  eyes  all  aglow,  and,  seizing  my  hand, 


282  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

exclaimed :  "  Mr.  Stanton,  that  was  one  of  the  grand 
est  newspaper  beats  that  ever  happened  in  New  York ! 
And  how  fortunate  it  is  for  us  that  Mr.  Smith  died 
to-day !  The  glorious  old  man  did  not  go  back  on  us. 
It  would  have  been  very  embarrassing  if  he 'had  re 
covered."  The  enthusiastic  outburst  of  the  night 
editor  may  be  regarded  as  the  very  effervescence  of 
the  esprit  de  corps  of  journalism. 

For  several  years  I  attended  state  conventions  of 
both  parties  in  New  York,  and  superintended  the 
reports  of  their  doings  for  the  Sun,  by  a  stenographer, 
who  minded  his  business  and  let  mine  alone.  It  was 
easy  to  describe  what  had  transpired  to-day,  but  it 
was  difficult  to  foreshadow  what  was  to  occur  to 
morrow.  I  was  ofttimes  able  to  do  the  latter,  be 
cause  I  had  long  been  personally  acquainted  with  the 
leaders  of  factions,  and  they  would  accept  my  assur 
ance  that  the  information  they  imparted  would  not 
be  disclosed  to  others,  though  both  sides  understood 
that  the  facts  were  to  appear  in  the  Sun. 

I  was  at  the  Democratic  State  Convention  at 
Rochester  in  1871.  The  exposures  in  the  New  York 
Times  of  the  frauds  of  the  Tweed  Ring  had  startled 
the  country  Democrats.  Nevertheless,  the  delegates 
from  the  city  were,  as  usual,  under  the  absolute  control 
of  Tweed.  I  am  now  to  speak  of  the  evening  before 
the  convention  organized.  Ultimate  results  would 
depend  upon  whether  the  Tweed  delegation  on  the 
morrow  demanded  seats  therein.  I  knew  it  was  the 
purpose  of  such  Democrats  as  Governor  Seymour, 
Mr.  Tilden,  Chief-Judge  Church,  and  Senator  Francis 
Kernan  to  exclude  them ;  and  Mr.  Tilden  had  counted 


WILLIAM    M.   TWEED.  283 

his  followers,  and  feared  no  failure.  Tweed  did  not 
know  this.  At  midnight  I  met  Mr.  Tweed  alone,  by 
appointment,  in  his  private  apartment,  where  he  was 
to  explain  to  me  his  programme  for  the  morrow. 
The  scene  will  long  remain  in  my  memory.  The 
chandelier  in  the  large  room  was  turned  lowr,  and  the 
elaborate  furniture  cast  ghastly  shadows  on  the  wralls. 
The  fallen  boss,  whom  I  was  wont  to  see  in  the  ful 
ness  of  his  strength,  was  nervous  and  sad.  In  a  voice 
slightly  tremulous  writli  emotion,  he  said  the  creden 
tials  of  the  Tammany  delegates  would  not  bo  pre 
sented.  He  surprised  me  with  the  frankness  of  his 
utterances.  I  will  not  name  those  of  his  persecutors 
to  whom  he  said  he  had  previously  paid  money,  for  a 
vein  of  bitterness  tinged  his  conversation.  At  a  later 
date,  Tweed  wras  sacrificed  to  save  others  who  were 
as  guilty  as  himself.  While  in  prison,  in  the  fall  of 
1877,  he  wTas  drawn  into  detailed  disclosures  of  the 
robberies  of  the  King  by  promises  which  were  not 
kept.  Though  a  public  plunderer,  he  w^as  as  honest 
as  some  of  his  prosecutors. 

I  was  at  many  state  conventions  on  the  like  errand 
with  that  just  described.  As,  for  example,  at  the 
Republican  Convention  of  1871,  at  S}rracuse,  when 
Conkling  and  Fenton  crossed  swords,  and  the  latter 
was  grievously  wounded ;  and  at  the  Democratic 
Convention  of  1874,  where  Samuel  J.  Tilden  received 
authority  to  break  up  the  Canal  Ring,  which  he  after 
wards  executed;  and  at  the  Democratic  Convention 
of  1876,  which  placed  Lucius  Robinson  in  a  station 
that  enabled  that  sour  politician  to  disrupt  and  almost 
destroy  his  party ;  and  at  the  Republican  Convention 


284  RANDOM   RECOLLECTIONS. 

of  1879,  where  Alonzo  B.  Cornell  surprised  his  oppo 
nents  by  winning  the  Gubernatorial  nomination,  and 
afterwards  beat  his  antagonist  at  the  polls  by  aid  of 
a  flank  movement  of  John  Kelly. 

In  the  New  England  campaign  of  the  spring  of 
1860,  which  foreshadowed  the  election  of  a  Republi- 
can  President  (perchance  his  defeat !),  I  met  in  Provi 
dence,  where  I  was  to  speak,  Mr.  Joseph  Howard,  Jr., 
representative  of  the  New  York  Times.  Supposing  I 
had  prepared  a  written  address,  he  asked  me  for  a 
copy  for  the  Times.  Not  a  word  of  my  speech  was 
on  paper,  but,  according  to  my  usual  habit,  the  outline 
was  before  my  eye.  We  repaired  to  my  room.  Mr. 
Howard  posed  as  the  Slave  Power.  For  nearly  an 
hour  I  upbraided  him  for  his  long-continued  aggres 
sions  upon  the  liberties  of  the  people  and  the  Con 
stitution  of  his  country.  Though  evidently  a  little 
disturbed  in  his  mind  at  this  vivid  portrayal  of  his 
manifold  iniquities,  he  nevertheless  rallied  sufficiently 
to  take  down  the  speech  and  emphasize  its  sharp 
points  with  "  loud  applause."  This  was  written  out, 
sent  to  the  Times,  and  put  in  type  before  the  meeting 
was  held,  for,  be  it  remembered,  the  telegraph  was  far 
less  used  for  such  purposes  then  than  it  is  now.  The 
large  and  tumultuous  meeting  lasted  till  near  mid 
night,  and  the  next  morning  the  speech  I  had  hurled 
at  the  Slave  Power  in  the  person  of  Joseph  Howard 
three  days  previously  appeared  in  the  Times,  and  sev 
eral  thousand  copies  of  the  paper  were  purchased  for 
circulation  in  Rhode  Island. 

An  old-time  friend  in  Congress  happened  to  meet 
me  in  Washington,  and  asked  me  to  write  a  speech 


ISAAC    HILL. — JOHN    M.   NILES.  285 

for  him  on  the  tariff,  a  subject  he  said  lie  understood 
about  as  well  as  the  average  New-Zealander.  I  did 
as  he  requested.  He  read  the  speech  in  the  House, 
and  circulated  a  large  edition.  It  was  translated  into 
German,  his  astonished  constituents  presented  to  him 
a  set  of  silver  plate,  and  he  was  re-elected. 

As  pure  acts  of  personal  friendship  (for  I  never 
took  a  penny  for  such  services),  I  did  this  for  Repre 
sentatives  and  Senators  whose  names  "shone  afar" 
in  the  Federal  councils.  I  Avas  a  little  disgusted  once 
when  a  prominent  Senator,  by  an  awkward  fumbling 
of  his  manuscript,  missed  a  brilliant  passage  over 
which  I  had  burned  a  large  amount  of  midnight  gas. 
I  felt  as  bad,  perhaps,  as  Mrs.  Isaac  Hill,  of  New 
Hampshire,  did  in  Van  Buren's  day.  She  was  lean 
ing  over  the  rail  of  the  Senate  gallery  while  her  hus 
band  was  reading  a  speech.  She  startled  the  strange 
ladies  around  her  by  exclaiming :  "  There  !  Mr.  Hill 
has  turned  over  two  leaves  at  once !"  Mr.  Hill  was 
an  accomplished  editor,  and  therefore  able  to  write 
his  own  speeches.  So  was  John  M.  Niles,  of  Con 
necticut.  Senator  Hill  built  up  the  Concord  Patriot; 
Senator  Niles  the  liar/ford  Times.  Senators  and 
Representatives  that  can  neither  write  nor  speak 
ought  to  resign  in  favor  of  editors  who  can  do  one 
or  both. 

What  I  have  stated  above  is  only  a  sample  of  a 
common  occurrence  at  Washington  and  elsewhere. 
I  am  often  astounded  at  the  eloquence  of  some  of  our 
public  men !  Bursting  on  the  country  so  unexpected 
ly,  too ! 

Newspaper  correspondents  do  a  lucrative  business 


286  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

at  Washington  in  writing  speeches  for  Senators  and 
Representatives.  Indeed,  so  common  is  this  that 
whenever  I  see  an  exceptionally  able  set  speech  by 
an  inferior  member  of  either  House,  I  am  constrained 
to  exclaim,  "  That  is  a  good  speech ;  I  wonder  what 
newspaper  man  wrote  it  ?"  The  enterprising  corre 
spondent  who  sold  the  same  speech  to  two  Congress 
men,  each  of  whom  delivered  it  as  his  own,  rather 
imposed  on  his  victims,  especially  as  he  himself  hired 
a  third  person  to  write  it.  So  did  the  reporter  who 
copied  the  best  passages  in  the  speech  he  furnished 
to  his  dupe  from  an  old  book  in  the  Congressional 
library.  There  should  be  honor  among  such  people. 

This  line  of  remark  will  now  and  then  apply  to 
reports  from  Congressional  committees  and  the  ex 
ecutive  departments,  and  to  Governors'  messages  and 
emanations  from  State  Legislatures.  Oh,  well,  if  you 
don't  know  how  to  do  a  thing  yourself,  is  it  not  best 
to  invoke  the  aid  of  somebody  who  does  ? 

Persons  not  well  informed  on  this  subject  are  not 
aware  how  frequent  is  the  practice  of  palming  on  the 
public  writings,  and  especially  speeches  and  orations, 
which  are  the  productions  of  others  than  their  reputed 
authors.  Over  and  over  again  men  have  sent  articles 
to  newspapers  and  magazines,  and  even  books  to  pub 
lishers,  claiming  them  as  emanations  of  their  own 
pens,  who,  when  it  came  to  revising  the  proofs,  were 
not  capable  of  recasting  or  rewriting  a  paragraph. 

On  June  27,  1885,  the  day  when  I  completed  the 
eightieth  year  of  my  age  and  the  sixtieth  since  I  be 
gan  to  write  for  newspapers,  the  New  York  Press  Club 
gave  me  a  reception  at  their  rooms  in  the  city.  The 


AMOS    J.   CUMMINGS.  287 

proceedings  were  elaborately  reported.  I  omit  every 
thing  except  the  closing  portion  of  the  speech  of  Mr. 
Amos  J.  Cummings,  then  president  of  the  Club.  I 
print  this  because  it  presents  some  curious  informa 
tion  concerning  several  distinguished  editors  and  au 
thors. 

"Glance  over  Mr.  Stanton's  past/'' continued  Mr. 
Cummings.  "  He  was  born  four  years  before  Abraham 
Lincoln.  When  he  began  to  write  for  newspapers, 
Lincoln  was  employed  at  six  dollars  a  month  to  man 
age  a  ferry  across  the  Ohio,  at  the  mouth  of  Anderson's 
Creek.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  a  boy  twelve  years 
old,  living  with  his  widowed  mother  on  a  sterile  Ver 
mont  farm.  Fred  Douglass  was  a  pickaninny  on  a 
Maryland  plantation.  Horace  Greeley  had  not  yet 
entered  a  country  printing-office.  Thurlow  Weed  was 
editing  a  dingy  weekly  newspaper.  Charles  Dickens 
was  a  boy  thirteen  years  old,  employed  in  an  attorney's 
office.  Thackeray  was  a  boy  of  fourteen,  attending 
school  in  London.  William  Cullen  Bryant  had  just 
come  to  this  city.  James  Gordon  Bennett  was  trying 
to  establish  a  commercial  school  here.  Henry  J.  Ray 
mond  and  Charles  A.  Dana  were  wearing  check  aprons 
at  district  schools.  Erastus  Brooks  was  attending  a 
grocery  in  Boston.  James  Watson  Webb  was  an  ad 
jutant  in  the  regular  army.  Manton  Marble,  George 
W.  Childs,  and  William  Henry  Hurlbert  were  en 
wrapped  in  the  cocoon  of  futurity.  A.  K.  McClure 
was  just  learning  to  walk.  Joseph  R.  Hawley  had 
just  been  born  in  a  country  town  in  Korth  Carolina. 
John  W.  Forney  was  a  boy  nine  years  old,  running 
around  unshod ;  and  scores  of  other  newspaper  men 


288  RANDOM    RECOLLECTIONS. 

who  have  won  fame  and  fortune  were  not  even  liter 
ary  larvaB." 

Mr.  Cummings,  in  November,  1886,  was  elected  by 
an  almost  unanimous  vote  to  the  Fiftieth  Congress 
from  the  sixth  district  of  New  York.  His  varied  ex 
perience  as  a  journalist  will  enable  him  to  carry  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  an  amount  of  rare  in 
formation,  that  will  be  valuable  in  a  body  that  is 
always  composed  very  largely  of  lawyers.  For  exam 
ple,  the  House  of  the  Forty-ninth  Congress  contains 
325  members,  of  whom  245  belong  to  the  legal  pro 
fession.  The  Sixth  New  York  District  doubtless  issues 
more  newspapers  and  periodicals  than  any  other  Con 
gress  district  in  the  United  States.  The  total  num 
ber  is  418,  consisting  of  daily,  semi- weekly,  weekly, 
bi-weekly,  semi-monthly,  monthly,  bi-monthly,  and 
quarterly  publications,  printed  in  fourteen  different 
languages.  This  is  fifty-five  more  than  are  issued  in 
Alabama,  Louisiana,  and  Mississippi  combined,  Avhich 
three  states  send  twenty-one  members  to  Congress. 
The  Sixth  District,  too,  is  the  seat  of  many  of  the 
great  book-publishing  houses  of  the  country.  It  is 
also  alive  with  job  printers,  who  do  press-work  of  all 
imaginable  descriptions.  It  is  entirely  appropriate 
that  such  a  district  should  be  represented  in  Congress 
by  so  competent  a  journalist  as  Mr.  Cummings. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Conclusion. — Retrospect. — Extract  from  Thomas  Moore's  "Oft  in 
the  Stilly  Night." 

As  I  turn  my  eye  back  over  the  fourscore  years 
covered  by  this  narrative,  I  am  deeply  impressed  with 
the  sad  thought  that  nearly  all  the  persons  of  whom 
I  have  written  are  in  the  spirit-land,  and  that  some  of 
the  more  distinguished  have  entered  its  portals  since 
the  first  edition  of  this  work  was  issued.  As  I  ap 
proach  the  goal  I  may  be  pardoned  for  quoting,  ere 
laying  down  the  pen,  the  familiar  lines  of  Moore : 

"When  I  remember  all 

The  friends,  so  linked  together, 
I've  seen  around  me  fall 
Like  leaves  in  wintry  weather, 

I  feel  like  one 

Who  treads  alone 
Some  banquet  hall  deserted, 

Whose  lights  are  fled, 

Whose  garlands  dead, 
And  all  but  he  departed." 

13 


INDEX  OF  NAMES. 


Abinger,  Lord,  92. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  149, 150, 

156,  163,  265. 
Adams,  John,  72,  255. 
Adams,  John  Quincy.  19,  31,  33, 

49,  50,  58-60,  83,  158,  159,  163, 

259. 

Allen,  Charles,  149. 
Allen,  William,  153,  242. 
Andrews,  George  II.,  274. 
Andrews,  Stephen  Pearl,  281. 
Anthony.  Susan  B.,  68. 
Armstrong.  John,  218. 
Arnold,  Benedict,  5,  6. 
Arnold,  Matthew,  91. 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  189-191. 
Atchinson,  David  R,  154. 
A  very,  Ephraim  K.,  112,  113. 

Babcock,  George  R.,  171. 
Bailey,  E.  Prentiss,  66. 
Bailey,  Gamaliel,  66,  75,  263,  276. 
Bailey,  Wesley,  66. 
Baines,  Edward,  76. 
Ballantyne,  Sergeant,  91. 
Banks,  Nathaniel  P.,  61. 
Barker,  George  P.,  155,  160. 
Barkesdale,  William,  208,  209. 
Barnard,  Daniel  D.,  35. 
Barnes,  Albert,  45,  185. 
Bates,  Edward,  222,  224. 
Bayard,  Edward,  281. 
Beaconsfield,  Lord,  83. 
Beardsley,  Samuel,  51,  161. 
Beecher,  Harriet,  68. 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  44,  45. 
Beecher,  Lyman,  43-46. 
Beekman,  James  W.,  171, 172. 
Bel  knap,  Jeremy,  16. 
Bellamy,  Joseph,  12. 


Beman,  Nathan  S.  S.,  45. 
Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  204. 
Bennett,  James  Gordon,  275,  287. 
Bentham,  Jeremy,  106. 
Ben  ton,  Thomas  H.,  61, 152, 154, 

259. 

Bickford,  Maria,  113,118,119,121. 
Biddle,  Nicholas,  103,  153,  206. 
Bigelow,  John,  160. 
Binney,  Thomas,  76. 
Biruey,  David  B.,  48. 
Birney,  James  G.,  47-49,  58,  65, 

75,  259,  276. 

Bishop,  Joel  Prentiss,  126. 
Black,  Jeremiah,  212. 
Blaine,  James  G.,  154,  185. 
Blair,  Francis  P.  (Senior),  154, 

183,  220. 

Blair,  Francis  P.  (Junior),  222. 
Blair,  Montgomery,  222. 
Blatchford,  Samuel,  142. 
Blucher,  Field  Marshal,  257. 
Booth,  Junius  Brutus,  96. 
Bouck,  William  C.,  30, 161. 
Boughton,  Selleck,  132,  133. 
Bowman,  John,  30. 
Bo  wring,  John,  76. 
Brandreth,  Benjamin,  171. 
Breckenridge,  John  C. ,  203. 
Brewster,  Henry,  51. 
Brewster,  Simon,  3,  6. 
Brewster,  Susan,  3. 
Brewster,  William,  3, 108. 
Bright,  John,  76, 101. 
Bronson,  Greene  C.,  129. 
Brooks,  Erastus,  266,  267,  287. 
Brooks,  James,  266. 
Brougham,  Henry,  75,  77-81,  85- 

87, 106. 
Brown,  John  (Capt.),  191,  280. 


292 


INDEX    OF    NAMES. 


Brown,  Judge,  50. 
Brown,  Tom,  153. 
Brummel,  Beau,  90. 
Brunswick,  Duchess  of,  76. 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  63,  103, 

160,  214,  269,  277,  287. 
Buchanan,  James,  152,  154,  204, 

207,  259. 

Buckingham,  Joseph  Tinker,  275. 
Buckingham,  William  A.,  54. 
Buller,  Charles,  76. 
Bulvver,  Edward  Lytton,  85. 
Bunyan,  John,  108. 
Burden,  Henry,  141,  142. 
Burke,  Edmund,  87,  92, 108, 116. 
Burleigh,  Charles  C.,  71. 
Burleigh,  William  H.,  71. 
Burns,  Robert,  103, 109. 
Burr,  Aaron,  255. 
Burroughs,  Roswell,  13. 
Burroughs,  Silas,  13. 
Butler,  Benjamin  F.  (Albany),  31, 

32,  158,  160,  163, 164,  259. 
Butler,  Benjamin  F. (Lowell),  227. 
Buxton,  Thomas  Fowell,  76,  85, 

86,  87. 

Byron,  Ada  Augusta,  104. 
Byron,  Lady,  76, 104. 
Byron,  Lord,  76,  104. 

Cady,  Daniel,  35, 74, 130, 131, 139, 

140,  260. 

Cady,  Elizabeth,  74. 
Cagger,  Peter,  136-138. 
Calhoun,  John  C.,  61, 84, 114, 152, 

154,  259. 

Calvin,  Delano  C.,  145. 
Cambreling,  Churchill  C.,  160, 

161. 

Cameron,  Simon,  164,  213,  222. 
Campbell,  Thomas,  76,  102,  103, 

107. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  104, 105. 
Carnot,  L.  K  M.,228. 
Carroll,  Thomas  B.,  160, 171, 220. 
Cass,  Lewis,  154,  157,  158,  161, 

179-183,  212. 

Cassidy,  William,  160,  279. 
Chace,  William  M.,  194, 195. 
Chalmers,  Thomas,  105, 106. 


Channing,  AVilliam  Ellery,  71. 
Chapman,  Maria  W.,  51. 
Charlick,  Oliver,  182. 
Chase,  Edward  I.,  224. 
Chase,  Salmon  P.,  66,  154,  163, 

220,  222-225,  238,  239,  259. 
Cheetham,  James,  254. 
Child,  Lydia  Maria,  67. 
Childs,  George  W.,  287. 
Choate,  Joseph  H.,  90. 
Choate,  Rufus,  111,  113, 115-119, 

121, 124, 151. 
Church,   Sanford  E.,   155,   160, 

171, 174. 

Cilley,  Jonathan,  271. 
Clark,  Daniel,  143. 
Clark,  Thomas  M.,  52. 
Clarkson,  Thomas,  75,  76,  86,  87, 

107. 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  66,  276,  277. 
Clay,  Henry,  19,  20,  28,  32,  38, 39, 

61,  84,  152-154,  158,  205,  206, 

217. 

Clayton,  John  M.,  152. 
Cleveland,  Chaunce3r  F. ,  54. 
Clinton,  De  Witt,  23,  31,  32,  132, 

218,  249,  255. 
Cochrane,  John,  202. 
Colden.-Cadwallader  D.,  22. 
Coleman,  William,  254. 
Comstock,  Oliver  C.,  40. 
Conkling,  Roscoe,  32,  154,  193, 

198, 199,  236,  240,  241. 
Conolly,  Richard  B.,  247. 
Cook,  James  M.,  171. 
Copley,  John,  79. 
Cornell,  Alonzo  B.,  240. 
Cornell,  Maria,  112. 
Corning,  Erastus,  141. 
Corwin,Thomas,151,200,201,213. 
Cottenham,  Lord,  92,  93. 
Cowen,  Eseck,  129,  135, 136. 
Cox,  F.  A.  (D.D.),  76. 
Crandell,  Prudence,  66,  67. 
Crawford,  Martin  J.,  208,  209. 
Crawford,  William  H.,  19. 
Cremieux,  Isaac  Adolphe,  93. 
Crittenden,  John  J.,  151,  152. 
Crolius,  Clarkson,  171. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  92,  97,  98,  208. 


INDEX   OF    NAMES. 


293 


Croswell,  Edwin,  160,  279. 
Cummings,  Amos  J.,  287,  288. 
Curtis,  Benjamin  11.,  124. 
Curtis,  George  William,  263,  264. 
Curtis,  Samuel  R.  234. 
Gushing,  Caleb,  57,  58,  259. 

Daboll,  Nathan,  16, 17. 

Dana,  Charles  A.,  186,  220,  241, 

246,  260,  287. 
Daniels,  Alfred,  124. 
Daniels.  George,  123,  124. 
Dart,  William  A.,  171. 
Darwin,  Doctor  (Senior),  228. 
Davis,  David,  221. 
Davis,  Henry  Winter,  202. 
Davis,  Jefferson,  210. 
Davis,  Matthew  S.,  255. 
Davis,  Noah,  236. 
Dawson,  George,  280. 
Day,  Benjamin,  274. 
Decatur,  Stephen,  6,  7. 
Denio,  Hiram,  129,  135. 
Denman,  Lord,  92. 
Derby,  Earl,  83. 
Dexter,  Lord  Timothy,  72,  73. 
Dickens,  Charles,  287" 
Dickinson,  Andrew  B.,  223,  224. 
Dickinson,  Daniel  S.,  154,  160, 

178, 180,  212. 

Disraeli,  Benjamin,  83,  85. 
Dix,  John  A.,  146,  154,  160,  174, 

184,  212,  218,  246,  259. 
Dixon,  James,  213. 
Doolittle,  James  R.,  213. 
Dorsheimer,  AVilliam,  246. 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  154,  203, 

209,  212-214,  287. 
Douglass,  Frederick,  68, 156. 
Dow,  Lorenzo,  13, 14. 
Duane,  William,  254. 
Durham,  Earl,  81. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  12. 
Edwards,  Monroe,  272. 
Elliott,  Ebenezer,  103. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  105. 
Emmet,  Robert,  84. 
Evarts,  William  M.,  115, 193,217, 
218. 


Everett,  Edward,  259. 
Ewing,  Thomas,  39. 

Fanning,  Charles,  19,  20. 
Farrar,  Canon,  91. 

Fenton,  Reuben  E.,  143, 154, 160, 

236-239,  249. 
Fessenden,  Samuel,  54. 
Fessenden,  William  Pitt,  54,  213. 
Field,  David  Dudley,  160,  171, 

214. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  36,  40. 
Finney,  Charles  G.,  40-42, 45,  63. 
Fish,  Hamilton,  171, 172. 
Flagg,  Azariah  C.,  30, 158,  160. 
Flint,  Abel,  16. 
Folger,  Charles  J.,  160. 
Follett,  William,  93. 
Folsom,  Abigail,  70,  93. 
Forney,  John  W.,  287. 
Forrest,  Edwin,  96. 
Forster,  William  E.,  76,  90,  101. 
Foster,  La  Fayette  S.,  123. 
Foster,  Stephen  S.,  70,  213. 
Fox,  Charles  James,  87, 108. 
Fox,  George,  70. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  72, 106. 
Fremont,  John  C.,  8,  54. 
Freneau,  Philip,  253. 
Fry,  Elizabeth,  76. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  255. 
Gardiner,  Addison,  35,  160. 
Garfield,  James  -A: ,-241.. 
Garrison,  William  Lloyd',  51,  52, 

65,  69,  71,  72, 164. 
Geddes,  George,  171. 
Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  66. 
Gladstone,  AVilliam   Ewart,  84, 

101. 

Goodell,  William,  66. 
Goodrich,  Samuel  G.,  49. 
Gould,  Jacob,  32. 
Graham,  Sylvester,  62,  63. 
Granger,  Francis,  22. 
Grant,  Ulysses  S.,43. 
Graves,  AVilliam  J.,  271. 
Greeley,  Horace,  47,  63, 107, 154, 

186,  214,  217,  218,  220,  222,  259, 

273,  287. 


294 


INDEX    OF    NAMES. 


Green,  Andrew  H.,  160. 
Green,  Ashbel,  Dr.,  45. 
Green,  Beriah,  51,  66. 
Grey  (Earl,  1st),  77,  79,  80,  81. 
Grey  (Earl,  2d),  83. 
Grey,  Lady  Jane,  97. 
Griffin,  John,  134. 
Grimke,  Angelina,  67. 
Grimke,  Sarah,  67. 
Grow,  Galusha  A.,143,207. 
Grundy,  Felix,  153. 
Guizot,  F.  P.  G.,75. 
Guruey,  Samuel,  76. 

Hale,  David,  267,  268. 
Hale,  John  P.,  127,  128,  213. 
Hallett,  Benjamin  F.,  125, 126. 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  255. 
Ilamlin,  Hannibal,  213,  219. 
Hammond,  Charles,  258. 
Hancock,  John,  72. 
Hardy,  Commodore,  6,  7. 
Harris,  Ira,  217,  218. 
Harrison,  William  II.,  151. 
Hart,  Levi,  12. 
Hastings,  Hugh  J.,  241. 
Hastings,  Warren,  80,  92,  108. 
Hawley,  Jesse,  132, 133. 
Hawley,  Joseph  R.,  66,  287. 
Hawley,  Reverend  Mr. ,  66. 
Haydon,  Benjamin  R,,  76,  77. 
Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  242. 
Hayne,  Robert  Y. ,  50. 
Head,  George,  119, 120, 121. 
Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  154. 
Heyrick,  Elizabeth,  60. 
Hill,  Isaac,  285. 
Hill,  Nicholas,  135, 136,  137, 138, 

140, 160, 161. 
Hoar,  E.  Rockwood,  115. 
Hoar,  George  F.,  115. 
Hoar,  Samuel,  113, 114,  115. 
Hoffman,  John  T.,  248. 
Hoffman,  Michael,  155,  160,  173, 

175. 

Holman,  William  S.,  143. 
Hopkins,  Samuel,  12. 
Houston.  Sam,  183. 
Howard,  Joseph,  Jr.,  284. 
Howick,  Lord,  83. 


Howitt,  Mary,  76. 
Hubbard,  Samuel,  123. 
Hugo,  Victor,  104. 
Hume,  David,  89. 
Hunt,  Washington,  159. 
Hunter,  John,  223. 
Hurlbert,  William  Henry,  287. 
Hutchinson  (The  family),  70. 

Irving,  Washington,  255. 
Isambert,  Franyois  Andre,  93. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  19,  31-33, 103, 

154,  205. 

Jackson,  Francis,  65. 
James,  John  Angell,  76. 
James,  William  (Senior),  40. 
James,  William  (Junior),  40. 
Jay,  John,  255. 
Jay,  William,  65. 
Jefferson,  Joseph,  13. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  3,  142,  148, 

149. 

Jeffrey,  Francis,  106. 
Jeffreys,  George,  98,  99. 
Johnson,  Andrew,  209. 
Johnson,  Richard  M.,  61. 
Johnson,  Samuel,  96,  107. 
Johnson,  William  (Law  Reporter), 

129,  135. 

Jones,  Edward  F.,  225. 
Judson,  Andrew  T.,  67, 

Keau,  Charles,  26. 
Kean,  Edmund,  26,  27. 
Keitt,  Lawrence  M.,  207,  209. 
Kellogg,  William,  208. 
Kelly,  John,  284. 
Kendall,  Amos,  259. 
Kent,  James,  129,  143. 
Kernan,  Francis,  282. 
King,  Charles,  62,  276. 
King,  Preston,  160. 
King,  Rufus,  164,  218. 
King,  William  R.,  152. 
Knapp,  Frank,  113. 
Knapp,  Joseph,  113. 
Knox,  John,  105. 

La  Fayette,  The  Marquis,  20. 


INDEX    OF    NAMES. 


295 


Lamartinc,  Alpbonse,  93. 
Lainpson,  Father,  70. 
Lapham,  Elbridge  G.,  240. 
Lawrence,  Abbott,  114,  115,  150. 
Lawrence,  James,  9. 
Leavitt,  Joshua,  65. 
Ledyard,  William,  6. 
Lee,  Charles  M.,  133. 
Leggett,  William,  269. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  134,  209,  212, 

214,  216,   221,   222,  232-235, 

287. 

Lincoln,  Mrs.  Abraham,  221. 
Littlejohn,  De  Witt  C.,  218,  246. 
Livingston,  Edward,  255. 
Livingston,  Peter  R,  22. 
Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  103. 
Loomis,  Arphaxad,  155,  160. 
Lord,  Hezckiah,  12. 
Loring,  Charles  G.,  124. 
Lovejoy,  Elijah  Parrish,  66. 
Lovejoy,  Owen,  207,  232. 
Lovelace,  Lady,  76,  104. 
Lushington,  Stephen,  76. 
Lyndhurst,  Lord,  78,  79. 

McClellan,  George  B.,  227. 
McClure,  Alexander  K.,  287. 
McDonald,  Joseph  E.,  154,  242. 
McPheeters,  Dr.,234. 
Macaulay,    Thomas   Babingtou, 

80,  82,  84,  85,  106. 
Mackenzie,    Alexander    Slidell, 

145,  146. 
Macready,  96. 
Madison,  James,  7,  9,  10. 
Madison,  Mrs.  James,  152. 
Mallory,  James,  30. 
Mann,  Abijah,  160. 
Mann,  Charles  A.,  171. 
Mann,  Horace,  149. 
Mansfield,  Lord,  129. 
Marble,  Manton,  287. 
Marcy,  William  L.,  30,  37-40, 

154,  160,  218,  249,  259. 
Marlborough,  Duke  of,  108. 
Marshall,  John,  112,  129. 
Marshall,  Thomas  F.,  60,  272. 
Martindale,  Henry  C.,  184. 
Marvin,  Dudley,  35. 


Mason,  James  M.,  210. 

Mason,  Jeremiah,  111-113,  118, 

204,  210,  211. 
Mason,  John,  4. 

Matteson,  Orsamus  B.,  198,  199. 
May,  Samuel  J. ,  65,  67. 
Melbourne,  Lord,  78,  79,  82. 
Mellen,  George  W.,  70. 
Miantonornoh,  45. 
Miller,  Warner,  240. 
Mouro,  Timothy,  37. 
Montgomery,  James,  103. 
Moore,  Thomas,  23. 
Morgan,  Christopher,  215. 
Morgan,  Edwin  D.,  218,219,236- 

238. 

Morgan,  William,  24,  36,  37. 
Morpeth,  Lord,  75. 
Morse,  Jedediah,  16. 
Moses,  Franklin  J.,  114. 
Mott,  Lucretia,  67,  281. 
Murat,  Joachim,  83. 
Murray,  Lindley,  16. 

Napoleon!..  79,  228,257. 
Napoleon  III.,  94. 
Neal,  John,  54. 
Nelson,  Horatio,  6. 
Nelson,  Samuel,  129,  138,  142. 
Niles,  JohnM.,  285. 
Noah,  Mordecai  M.,  22. 
Noxen,  B.  Davis,  35. 
Noyes,  Edward  F.,  242. 
Noyes,  William  Curtis,  215. 
Nye,  James  W.,  156, 160. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  75,  83,  84,  87, 

102, 107,  108. 
O'Connell,  John,  107. 
O'Conor,  Charles,  161. 
Opie,  Amelia,  76. 
O'Reilly,  Henry,  26,  258. 
Orr,  James  L./207. 

Paddleford,  Seth,  213. 
Parker,  Amasa  J.  (Senior),  246. 
Parker,  Mary  S.,51. 
Parker,  Samuel  Dunn,  119, 121. 
Parker,  Theodore,  128. 
Parley,  Peter,  49. 


296 


INDEX    OF    NAMES. 


Partridge,  Alden,  29. 
Patch,  Sam,  27. 
Patterson,  George  W.,  171. 
Payne,  Henry  B.,  154. 
Pease,  Elizabeth,  76. 
Peel,  Robert,  83,  84. 
Penn,  William,  53. 
Pennington,  William,  61, 201, 202. 
Penny,  Joseph,  40. 
Perry,  Oliver  Hazard,  8,  9. 
Phelps,  Amos  A.,  65. 
Phillips,  Stephen  C.,  149. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  66,  69,  71. 
Pickering,  Timothy,  255. 
Pierce,  Franklin,  126, 153. 
Pierpont,  John,  65. 
Pillsbury,  Parker,  70. 
Pitt,  William  (Senior),  79,  228. 
Pitt,  William  (Junior),  87,  104. 
Platt,  Thomas  C.,  240. 
Polk,  James  K.,  60,  157, 158. 
Pollock,  Frederick,  93. 
Porter,  John  K.,  136,  137, 138. 
Porter,  Peter  B.,  155. 
Porteus,  Bishop,  87. 
Prentice,  George  D.,  17,  18,  26, 

259,  275. 

Preston,  William  C.,  152. 
Purvis,  Robert,  69. 

Quincy,  Edmund,  70. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  70. 

Randolph,  John,  108. 
Rantoul,  Robert,  280. 
Raymond,  Henry  J.,  154,  260, 

261,  287. 

Redfield,  Heman  J.,30. 
Reynolds,  Marcus  T.,  138,  139. 
Rhelt,  Robert  Barnwell.  60,  259. 
Richmond,  Dean,  156,  160. 
Ritchie,  Thomas,  154. 
Rives,  William  C.,  152. 
Roberts,  Marshall  O.,  237. 
Robinson,  Lucius,  283. 
Root.  Erastus,  22. 
Ruggles,  Samuel  B.,  267. 
Russell,  Major  Ben,  253. 
Russell,  Lord  John,  77,  82. 
Russell,  Lord  William,  108. 


Sackett,  Garry  V.,  196-198. 
Sanford,  Nathan,  218. 
Sargeant,  John,  152. 
Sassacus,  4. 
Scarlett,  James,  92. 
Schofield,  John,  19. 
Scott,  Walter,  108,177. 
Scott,  Winfield,  180. 
Scribner,  Charles,  75. 
Selden,  Samuel  L.,  35. 
Seward,  William  H.,  33,  34,  86, 

142, 154, 169, 170,  203,  204,210, 

212-219,  221-223, 225,  241,  242, 

259. 

Seymour,  Henry,  29,  30. 
Seymour,  Horatio,  29,  30,  154, 

155,  160,  238,  239,  267. 
Sharp,  Granville,  87, 107. 
Shaw,  Lemuel,  110, 116. 
Shaw,  Samuel  M. ,  280. 
Sheridan,  Richard  B.,  92,  108. 
Sherman,  John,  200,  201. 
Sherman,  Roger,  115. 
Sherman,  William  T.,  61. 
Shipman,  Thomas  L.,  281. 
Simmons,  James  F.,  213. 
Slidell,  John,  146,  203,  204,  210, 

211. 

Smith,  Caleb  B.,  222. 
Smith,  Gerrit,  27,  51,  65, 146, 168, 

281,  282. 

Smith,  Green,  191. 
Smith,  Horace  E.,  126. 
Smijhof  N.  C.,201. 
Smith,  Peter,  189, 190. 
Smith,  Sydney,  80,  81,  106. 
Southard,  Samuel  L.,  152. 
Southwick,  Solomon,  33. 
Spencer,  Ambrose,  129,  146. 
Spencer,  John    C.,  31,  35,  145, 

146,  267. 

Spencer,  Joshua  A.,  139. 
Sprague,  Peleg,  110. 
Sprague,  William,  213. 
Stanley,  Dean,  91. 
Stanley,  Lord,  83. 
Stanton, Edwin  M.,  222,  228,233. 
Stanton,  Elizabeth  Cady,  68. 
Stanton,  Joseph  (Senior),  2. 
Stanton,  Joseph  (Junior),  2. 


INDEX    OF    NAMES. 


297 


Stanton,  Lodewick,  2. 

Stanton,  Robert  Lodewick,  234, 

251. 

Stanton,  Susan,  3,  4. 
Stanton,  Thomas,  2. 
Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  214. 
Stetson,  Charles,  180. 
Stevens,  Samuel,  138-141. 
Stephens,  Thaddeus,  208,  209. 
Stewart,  Alvan,  51. 53, 65,134.135. 
Stone,  Lucy,  67,  68. 
Storrs,  Henry  R,  35,  132. 
Story,  Joseph,  110,  113,  126,  255. 
Stowe,  Calvin  E.,68. 
Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  68,  262. 
Stuart,  Charles  E.,  211. 
Stuart,  Moses,  259. 
Sturge,  Joseph.  76. 
Sumuer,  Charles,  125,  126. 
Sutherland.  Jacob,  129. 
Swift,  Jonathan.  108. 
Sydney,  Algernon,  108. 

Taft,  Alphonso,  242. 
Talfourd.  Thomas  Noon,  85,  93. 
Tallmadge,  James,  23,  164. 
Tallmadge,  Nathaniel  P.,  152. 
Taney,  Roger  B.,  152,  254. 
Tappan,  Arthur,  65,  267. 
Tappan,  Lewis,  51,  52,  65,  267, 

268,  275. 

Taylor.  John  W.,  38,  164. 
Taylor.  Nathaniel  W.,  45. 
Taylor,  Zachary,  159, 162, 164, 204. 
Tecum.seh.  61." 
Temple.  William,  108. 
Thackerav,  William  Makepeace, 

287. 

Thompson,  Smith,  33.  129. 
Thurman,  Allen  G.,  154,  242. 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  154,  160-162, 

238,  244-248. 
Tirrell,  Albert  J.,  113,  118,  119, 

120, 121. 

Tompkins,  Daniel  D.,  247. 
Toombs,  Robert,  203,  204,  210. 
Tracey,  Albert  H.,  149. 
Trumbull,  Lyman,  213. 
Tucker,  Beverly,  210. 
Tucker,  Ephraim,  7,  8. 

13* 


Tucker,  Luther,  26. 

Turner,  Nat,  47. 

Tweed,  William  M.,  22,  247,  283. 

Tyler,  John,  151. 

Tytler,  Alexander  Fraser,  16. 

Uncas,  4,  5. 

Vallandigham,  Clement  L.,  239. 
Van  Buren,  John,  154,  155,  160, 

162,  165,  279. 
Van  Buren,  Martin,  31-33,  38, 58, 

61.  130,  146,  154,  157-160, 162- 

164,  205,  223. 

Vanderbilt,  Cornelius  J.,  144, 145. 
Van  Dyck,  Henry  H.,  279. 
Van  Ness,  William  W.,  130. 
Van  Rensselaer,  Stephen,  31. 
Van  Vechten,  Abraham,  136. 
Villiers,  C.  P.,  76. 

Wade,  Benjamin  F.,  154, 203, 204, 

213. 
Wadsworth,  James  S.,  156,  160, 

214,  216,  220. 
Wait,  John  T.,  123. 
Waldo,  Horatio,  12. 
Walker,  Robert  J.,  153,  212,  259. 
Wai  worth,  Reuben  H.,  142,  143, 

161. 

Ward,  Ferdinand,  43. 
Ward,  Ferdinand  D.  W.,  43. 
Wardlaw,  Ralph,  76,  106. 
Warren,  Samuel,  137. 
Washburne,  Elihu  B.,  208. 
Washington,  George,  70,  72, 148. 
Watterson,  Henry,  17. 
Wayne,  Mad  Anthony,  133. 
Webb,  James  Watson,  271-274, 

287. 
Webster,  Daniel,  39,  50,  61,  84, 

96,  110,  112,  113, 116, 118,  149- 

152,  154,  205,  206,  217. 
Webster,  Noah,  16. 
Weed,  Thurlow,  24-27, 33,  36,  38, 

154,  169,   170,  215,  216,  259, 

287. 

Weld,  Theodore  D.,  57,  65. 
Welles,  Gideon,  220,  233. 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  77.  79. 


298 


INDEX    OF    NAMES. 


Wendell,  John  L.  (Law  Reporter), 

135. 

White,  HaghL.,  153. 
White,  Joseph,  113. 
WhitefiVld.  George,  13. 
Whitehouse,  Henry  J.,  40. 
Whittier,  John  G.,  53,  57,  65,  71, 

72, 103,  261-263. 
Whittlesey,  Frederick,  25. 
Wilbar,  William.  122,  123. 
Wilberforce,  William,  87,  107. 
Wilde,  Judge,  124. 
Wiley,  John,  75. 
Wilkeson,  Samuel  (Senior),  28. 
Wilkeson,  Samuel  (Junior),  280. 
William  III.,  99,  108. 
Williams,  Benjamin,  122,  123. 
Williams,  Elisha,  35, 130-132. 
Williams,  Josiah  B.,  168-170. 


Williams,  Roger,  4,  14,  228. 
Williams  (Theatre  Manager),  26, 

27. 

Wilmot,  Eardley,  76. 
Wilmot,  David,  40. 
Wilson,  Henry,  50,  265. 
Windham,  William,  87. 
Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  150,  159. 
Wirt,  William,  259. 
Wise,  Henry  A.,  60. 
Wolfe,  James,  2. 
Woodward,  Samuel  B.,  148, 149. 
Wright,  Elizur,  48,  65,  275. 
Wright,  Frances,  28. 
Wright,  .Silas,  22,  38-40,  61,  152, 

154,  157-160, 162,  218,  249,  259. 

Young,  Samuel,  22,  160,  161. 
Younglove,  Truman  G.,  237,  238. 


THE   END. 


2351 87 


\ 


/ 

<jfr 


%       X 


U.  C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CD5flb35Dbfl 


I 


